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

Acting: 7/10 alright acting from a fairly impressive cast, but what they were delivering was fairly cringe-y or dull at times.

Plot: 2/10 vapid space tropes that lead nowhere. Plot-holes that are laughably confusing and inexcusable. Random made up unscientific garbage sprinkled everywhere. And lastly, random sequences that could easily have been built up to something else, but completely ignored.

Visuals: 5/10 a few interesting scenes, edits, and vfx moments, ultimately nothing all too impressive or deserving lavish. Direction: 5/10 while the direction was cohesive (for the most part), the story left much to be desired.

Conclusion: Extremely unimaginative derivative plot with very familiar space tropes that seem to drag on endlessly in a meandering slow paced space spectacle (without the spectacle). The complete lack of intrigue and story depth was astonishing in juxtaposition to the major critical praise this movie is receiving. Shallow characters following monotonic plot devices that don't drive home any sort of cohesive themes other than that space is dangerous and people go crazy in solitude (which have been explored in basically EVERY space movie ever made). Left the movie theatre having wondered if I even watched a movie, or a poor collage of scenic space shots and advertisements for another greater sci fi movie with better writing. There was hardly a journey, hardly a destination, and the melancholy undertones were all too familiar the entire course of the movie.

Shorter conclusion: Imagine Apollo 13, interstellar, and gravity all had a lovechild that came out neither as interesting, nor paced as well as either of them individually. As if all those movies had their souls torn out, and fused into a travesty of unoriginal writing and story telling.