Sci-Fi?

Ad Astra is a movie about a man haunted by his past. Specifically his relationship with a father that left when he was younger. The man is played by Brad Pitt and the dad is played by Tommy Lee Jones. Truly an amazing cast. Now, the fact that all of this takes place in space is just a setting. That doesn’t make this Sci-Fi, in fact it’s closer to Space Opera. Like Star Wars is. They don’t attempt to explain the science behind their travel and the only time they try to is towards the end when Brad Pitt says he’ll ride the shockwave, but even that doesn’t seem realistic.

Story

The movie as a whole is attempting to get you to think about your relationships and how they affect you. I don’t think they were very successful in this respect. I’ve been trying to think about the movie as a whole and you have almost a soulless Brad Pitt trying to connect with a heartless Tommy Lee Jones. It’s just not identifiable to me. Brad PItt has to take a psychology test every day to continue on with his quest he has to be devoid of emotion. When he breaks with the heartless personality they yank him off the mission. Then he goes rogue and leaves Mars anyway. I won’t bore you with any more of the story in case you want to watch this, but rest assured that it doesn’t really get any better.

Recommendation

Your time would be better served watching another movie. I just can’t recommend this movie. It’s slow. I couldn’t identify with the characters at all, and the setting was just not believable.