Logan Sork Film Reviews
Ad Astra
“Through hardships to the stars”. That is the meaning of the Latin phrase from which this film derives it’s title. The meaning of this phrase is in the eye of the beholder, but in the case of the film, the phrase signifies not only the hardships we face in our journey to get to the stars, but also the hardships that were with us all along. This film is a perfect description of that phrase as it not only gives us a realistic portrayal of the hardships that space brings to humanity, but also the hardships our main character must deal with as his journey brings them to the surface.
Ad Astra is written and directed by James Gray and star Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler and Donald Sutherland. The story follows Roy McBride (Pitt), an astronaut who is regarded as one of the best in the field yet has trouble with his emotions given the level head needed for his field of work. After a series of mysterious cosmic surges begin to cause chaos around the planet, Roy is called in by government officials for a top-secret mission. During the briefing, Roy learns that they believe the surges originate from the Lima Project, an exploration led by his father (Tommy Lee Jones) that had all but disappeared. Believing his father to still be alive, Roy embarks on a journey across our solar system to discover the truth about his father and stop the surges before they bring destabilization to the galaxy.
The film is riddled with a lot of fantastic actors, from Tommy Lee Jones as Roy’s mysterious father to Donald Sutherland as a former colleague of Roy’s father. While these supporting players do their best with the roles they have, they ultimately pale in comparison to Brad Pitt, who delivers a complex, yet understated performance as a stoic astronaut. Though most of the time Roy must keep his emotions in check due to the immense pressure he faces on the journey, the pressure eventually wears him down, revealing an emotionally distressed person beneath that calm façade. It it thanks to Pitt’s performance that this character arc is so compelling as he manages to pull off both the stoic side of Roy yet also capture the inner turmoil that his character faces perfectly. Since the film relies so heavily on Pitt to character this character driven story, it would not have succeeded had Pitt not put in every ounce of effort possible. And based on his phenomenal work on display here, I’d say he did just that.
The film also succeeds where a lot of other science fiction films fail – world building. The world constructed by James Gray and his production designers is perhaps one of the most realistic depictions of future space travel I’ve seen in film. The locations, ship designs and visual effects look so real and lived in that you’d swear they actually went to space to film. Despite this grandeur, what really sells the look and feel of the film is that it is very understated and doesn’t try too hard to look good or appealing. That doesn’t mean however that there isn’t a slew of gorgeous shots provided by cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema that will truly take your breath away thanks to their beauty. It is thanks to this realistic, harsh, yet ultimately beautiful depiction of humanity’s last great frontier that elevates this film on a technical level.
The story in this film is also excellent as it works on so many levels no matter what angle you look at it from. On the surface, the premise is quite simple as it deals with a thrilling race against time to stop a mad man from destroying the universe due to a failed science experiment. Look beneath that and it’s a story about a man trying to find someone whom he has lost a long time ago, leaving him with some serious emotional scars that he has tried to heal by succeeding in his line of work. Look even further and this film tells the story of humanity in space and how our desire to journey further into the stars can cause serious psychological strain on us and cause us to loose sight of what’s truly important.
Despite the complexity of the narrative and the messages conveyed in the film, it never feels pretentious or intentionally difficult. Rather than fight with the audience about what the film really means, Gray takes on an interstellar journey and makes his points either clear or easy to decipher resulting in a clear message that also works on multiple levels. While some may see this a simple or not complex enough, it’s nice to have a filmmaker that gives some hints as to what the film is really about rather than leaving us with nothing and claiming it’s brilliant. It’s complex yet simple and intelligent without being pretentious.
Still, I will say that there were some issues I had with the film, mainly concerning the pacing and some of the characters. While there were actually very few problems pacing wise, I will say that there were a couple of scenes that felt weirdly out of place and could’ve been removed all together. These scenes mainly concern Roy’s encounters throughout his journey and don’t really add much in terms of narrative importance neither on the surface or in the deeper meaning. The film also doesn’t spend that much time focusing on Roy’s wife, played by Liv Tyler, but makes her an important figure in the film. I feel that while their connection was solid it could’ve been built upon, especially given her contribution to Roy’s character arc and the overall meaning. While I’m usually not for them, a few extra flashbacks would’ve definitely made this character more significant than the film thinks she is.
Aside from those few flaws, this film is truly amazing on so many levels. James Gray delivers a film that speaks on multiple levels and has a lot to say about our place among the stars. This could’ve been a really pretentious film but thankfully it’s the exact opposite of that as it makes it’s points clear without overstepping its boundaries. Add in an excellent performance from Brad Pitt, a realistic yet beautiful depiction of the solar system and a truly amazing story and you have the recipe for one of the best films of the year.
8.5/10