Ad Astra

Ad Astra is easily one of the most beautiful pictures ever made, in terms of every ingredient you put in to make a great film, particularly the cinematography and score. Hoyte van Hoytema's camerawork is astounding where you'll have to see the colors for yourself to believe it! Max Richter's score is serene, haunting and beautiful!

Ad Astra aims to show the extreme actions humans take in the name of space exploration, at the expense of mental health, family and relationships. They are even willing to commit murder; the very action that defies our status as an intelligent life aka human being. Roy's father Clifford is the character manifestation of all these. And he was on a mission considered the height of space exploration - finding an intelligent life form outside of Earth. The irony is, in search for intelligent life, Clifford becomes the exact opposite of the objective he’s after. Clifford is no longer the most celebrated astronaut. We see a demented man who has lost all his rationale in the end. And by committing the exact opposite action to his father’s suicide in the climax, Roy is a changed man who returns to Earth and rejuvenates a life he never had a chance to live before.

Brad Pitt, in his calm and composed performance, plays Roy McBride - the protagonist who is not vocal. He seldom articulates the contents of his mind. Therefore, the voiceover technique utilized by James Gray here is a form of outlet for the character to let his thoughts out. It also has the essence alike reading his diary. Speaking of the main character, the arc drawn for him here is extremely subtle yet super effective. There's a fear in him, as it is in us too, on whether he'll end up becoming like his father or not. You could see the close proximity of path both him and his dad Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones) tread on. In fact, they are similar from start to almost finish. It's only the polar opposite climax decision each makes differentiates them, strapping out a growth for Roy. Clifford being the worst version Roy could ever be is helpful to push our hero away from meeting the same 'demise'.

Even if nothing, Ad Astra would serve as an important space film in the course of cinema history. The near future settings and technology boasted in this motion picture are minimalistic yet impactful! Hubs, outer space station, aircrafts, mayday entry code, lunar path, comfort rooms projection, feeding tube, pills distribution gun, inhabitants on a commercialized moon, smartphone operating system, you name it! The environment and props look authentic and lived in! Here's also your opportunity to witness myriad forms of stress calls and situations that could potentially happen during space odysseys! Research primates attack and corpse handling in space are good examples. War zones on moon with pirates fighting over resources and the shootout that ensues as our hero drifts across the dark side of the moon are intensely captured! The planets Mars and Neptune are breathtakingly picturized! Tunnel and underwater expedition to the rocket, both McBrides struggling in the oblivion of space plus Roy gaining momentum to spear through Neptune's orbit and reach his spaceship give unsurmountable tension!