Movie: Ad Astra

Hey guys!

What's up? I caught the movie Ad Astra (featuring Brad Pitt) recently, in the hopes that it would be as good as the other space movies I've watched, like The Martian or Interstellar. (Gravity was OK but it's too slow for me.)

Well, TLDR: Don't waste your time, it was sorely disappointing.



Movie: Ad Astra
Duration: 2h 3min (Give me back my time!!!)

What it's about: Astronaut Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) goes on a journey to locate his 'missing' daddy, Clifford McBride, who commandeered a mission of deep space exploration to look for intelligent life on Jupiter, Neptune and beyond. But the more Roy progresses, all he finds is a can full of worms.

My thoughts:

Pace of the movie is absolutely plodding, even frustrating at times. Brad Pitt is mostly sullen throughout the movie, but when the drama unfolds I feel nothing for his character. Mood of the entire movie is mostly depressing.

Towards the end, your own curiosity (alongside the money you paid for the ticket) is what carries you through till the end of the movie. The mystery is not as complex as expected, and I just feel like the hype is not real. The action is usually shortlived and does not pack a punch. Drama is all set out but doesn't come to fruition. People just conveniently die to push the plot ahead.

Also, in my opinion the movie has a terrible payoff ending. Maybe it's supposed to be metaphorical or something...

Someone in the theatre said aloud as the ending was revealed:

"That's it?!"

Lol.

Overall I felt Ad Astra is a rather weak space story. Yeah yeah, it brings us to another planet and maybe raises one or two interesting ideas, but that's about it. On its own, there is nothing much I want to applaud it for. It has neither the wit and humour of The Martian, nor the tension in Interstellar, though I'm not saying that every space movie has to embody these. Just mentioning this in case you, like me, thought this would be a cool space treat like the above mentioned movies.

Nope. So reset your expectations.  I'll give this a 4/10. 4 for beautiful visuals and grunt work. Did not enjoy this poorly developed story.

I thought the movie would be OK because of Brad Pitt... oh my was I wrong. Let me just go rewatch Fight Club.

I hope to catch a better film soon!

Watch the trailer here below, if you're interested:




And if you decide to watch the movie, let me know what you think! Did you enjoy it? What irked you or what were its redeeming qualities?

Cheers,
Skye

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