Review of Ad Astra (2019) by Theredsky — 22 Sep 2019

Ad Astra has some of the best visual effects of the year and another strong performance from Brad Pitt. Even though the film is really strong in the technical category, it still has its issues. The film is definitely going for this deep psychological tone and it didn’t work well for me, mainly because the film takes itself a little bit too seriously.

Throughout the 2 hour runtime, Pitt smiles maybe once or twice. If the film wasn’t trying to make itself this deep psychological film, it would have been better. The very basic concept of the film is very cliched.

It is another save the universe story but it does enough that is unique that this isn’t that big of an issue. Some of the side characters are pointless and are just there to dump exposition. The film also does start to feel a tad bit too long towards the end though.

While these issues do hold the film down a little bit, the positives do outweigh the negatives. Brad Pitt gives a fantastic performance. Although I think his performance in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was better, I still think he does a fantastic job.

It’s just the little things he does in this role that establish him as a great actor. Tommy Lee Jones did a good job in his role even though he was on screen for about 10-15 minutes. In my opinion, the biggest take away from the film is the visual effects.

The film looks fantastic. Whenever we see a planet, it looks so real and it sucks you into the universe. Every little detail, every spaceship, every location just feels incredibly real. I strongly believe this film could win Best Visual Effects at the Oscars.

The way the film uses lighting and its camera work just adds to the spectacle. I don’t know a lot about the physics of space but from what I do know, this film abides by those rules most of the time.

Do remember that this film takes place in the near future and technology has obviously improved in this universe so some of the physics may not make as much sense as they would today. I also really enjoyed the score by Max Richter for this film a lot.

It has this spacey vibe to it that fits the atmosphere and the tone the film is going for. I thought the production design for this film was really good also. Overall, Ad Astra is a great film with a fantastic performance by Brad Pitt and amazing visual effects but is held back a little by a way too serious tone.

I give Ad Astra a 7.5/10.