Review of Ad Astra (2019) by Tarekali — 24 Sep 2019

As the critics say, this is a story about a son living in the long shadow of a heroic father, trying to reconcile fact over fiction. The adage 'Never meet your heroes' is certainly affirmed. However, in substance, this is a cautionary tale of human space exploration and the accompanying stupidity, madness, greed, and pride that follow such grandiose ambitions.

I am certainly even more convinced humankind should focus on saving our existing spaceship, Earth, before we try to walk the stars. Some of the science also tends to stretch physics, where energy levels of phenomena defy logic.

Visually mesmerizing, the film absolutely warrants an Imax viewing - the images of serene blue Neptune, in particular, haunt me. Like 'Last Jedi' I greatly deviate from the critics' consensus score on this much less beloved property.