Ad Astra Review – Beautiful But Ultimately Boring Oscar Bait

The trailer for Brad Pitt’s latest movie, Ad Astra, seemed to tease suspense, action, and finding extraterrestrials.

It also garnered high praise from professional movie critics.

So you can’t blame moviegoers for expecting a space movie that is a bit more exciting. We went to see this movie expecting something similar to Interstellar or The Martian, both of which I enjoyed.

AD ASTRA REVIEW

What we got was something that felt like an Art Appreciation class or a Psychology class assignment. You know, one of those things that the teacher makes you write a reaction paper on.

It’s All About Brad Pitt’s Character’s Emotional Journey (Vague Spoilers Ahead)

*** emotional journey spoilers  ***

Brad Pitt’s character is a disconnected man who has daddy issues. His experience with abandonment makes it difficult for him to open up to people.

He finds out his father is alive and so he goes to find him to get some resolution. We are taken (reluctantly) on his emotional journey as he resolves his daddy issues. He finally meets the person he idolized but reality shatters his dream reunion. Despite all that, he still loves his father and he has to decide whether to fulfill his mission or not. He goes through loss and heartbreak and emerges from this experience a little healed and ready to open up to other people.

*** end spoilers ***

Brad Pitt’s character’s internal journey is the focus of this movie. It actually didn’t even have to happen in space, but I bet they just set the story in space because they wanted the movie to be a metaphor for loneliness, isolation, and running away.

Ad Astra (Latin) means “to the stars”. This movie is just a very boring way of telling us that we keep searching for things far away, not realizing what we want is right in front of us.

They also put in a commentary about human greed in space. And that the near future is depressing. Ok, got it.

Space?! Sorry, it was just background

The trailer showed laser gun battles and talked about ultimate weapons, heck there’s even a space monkey. Sounds exciting on paper, right? And yet they managed to make this movie more boring than watching paint dry.

All those things are just background to Brad Pitt’s character’s internal drama. You spend like 90% of the movie staring at Brad Pitt’s face. It’s a nice face, but still…

The science in this movie is also, shall we say, questionable. I am not a scientist but I had my doubts about a few things. But since I’m not an expert, I’ll just let it be.

SUMMARY

This isn’t the movie the trailer sold.

Yes, it is beautifully made, and brilliantly acted by Brad Pitt, but it wasn’t what I expected. If we had known it would be all about this boring guy’s therapy session as he resolves his daddy issues, we would never have even considered watching. It’s just not something we are interested in.

If you enjoy these types of contemplative, introspective films, then you will probably think this is a masterpiece. As for me, this wasn’t the movie I thought it was going to be, and I found it excruciatingly slow and dragging.

It felt like homework. We bought movie tickets to have fun and be entertained, not to do homework and analyze all this.

As for being thought-provoking and staying with you, well, it’s been several days and J & I are still discussing this movie, albeit negatively, so I guess the movie accomplished that… and that’s why you’re getting this Ad Astra review.

Also, somebody please give Liv Tyler something else to do. In this movie, she is again the protagonist’s waiting wife/ girlfriend. How many movies has she played this role?