Synopsis
Ad Astra is a sci-fi drama released in 2019 and directed by James Gray. Brad Pitt, one of the film’s leading actors, portrays a deeply introspective character. Rather than focusing on some frenetic action, the movie offers a unique blend of stunning visuals and psychological exploration as the audience witnesses the vastness of space, which serves as a metaphor for one’s emotional void, guilt, and the search for purpose.
Space exploration has greatly advanced in the movie’s timeline, with commercial lunar flights and the colonization of Mars. Set in the not-too-distant future, the story follows the character Major Roy McBride (played by Brad Pitt), an astronaut in such high demand that he is once referred to as a national treasure. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, McBride is known for his calm demeanor, his heart rate staying below 80 beats per minute even during the most stressful situations.
The orderly life McBride created for himself is shattered when powerful electrical surges hit Earth, risking global systems. These destructive surges are traced back to the Lima Project, a deep space mission his father, H. Clifford McBride (portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones), lost 16 years ago near Neptune. Clifford McBride was leading a deep space mission searching for intelligent life outside the solar system and was, at the time, officially presumed dead.
SpaceCom— the governing body overseeing interstellar missions—provides Roy with new information suggesting his father might actually be alive and could be the reason for the surges. Evidence suggests the Lima Project’s antimatter power source is volatile, and Clifford’s apparent madness and refusal to respond to communications imply he might have gone rogue.
SpaceCom approaches Roy with a classified assignment: to go to Mars and attempt to contact his father with a long-range antenna in hopes of preventing additional disasters. While Roy is willing to go, the assignment reopens deeply buried emotional scars. For years, he battled issues surrounding his father’s absence, silence, and subsequent departure.
Roy’s story starts with him living on Earth, and it takes him to the Moon, Mars, and later to Neptune. He confronts multiple space pirates on the moon, endures a life-threatening emergency on a research ship, and takes mind-numbing psychological tests designed to ensure he is fit to think and feel. All these challenges are self-inflicted, serving to test his psyche and self-development in stages, if you will.
Roy cannot hold back and records a message to his father, which breaks emotional walls he has built up for years on Mars. Out of the blue, Clifford responds. Roy, hell-bent on confronting his father, takes a ship to Neptune and vows to bring him back home, and if he’s unable to do that, then stop him at the very least.
Father Roy is in shock as he discovers the remains of the Lima Project abandoned in orbit around Neptune, where the climax of the movie takes place. Although Clifford did not let go of his idea that he has not found intelligent life outside of Earth (and has delusionally fixated on it), he still did freely admit in the most Jason Voorhees way that he has killed his crew to ensure that they would not abandon the mission.
In an emotionally powerful encounter, Roy begs his father to come home. Earth and its people are no longer Clifford’s concern. In time, Roy has to move on—both in a physical and emotional sense. During an EVA maneuver, Clifford casts off his tether and floats off into deep space, prioritizing his mission over redemption. Roy, on the other hand, escaping the Lima Project Station just in time to avoid the explosion, embarks on a long flight back to Earth.
Roy reuniting with his inner self marks the film’s conclusion. He strives to reconnect with humans, and with his estranged wife (played briefly by Liv Tyler) in particular. His journey into the far reaches of space, only to be met with silence, has taught him that meaning is not to be found in the cosmos, but in relationships and self-reflection.
Cast & Crew
Roy McBride is played by Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt as Roy McBride
As Brad Pitt delivers a restricted and deeply introspective performance, Roy’s internal monologues and his sparse dialogues in the film showcase his emotional repression and personal journey over time. He has been lauded for his portrayal, and it is widely considered one of the most praised performances of his career, and its subtlety and depth.
Tommy Lee Jones as H. Clifford McBride
His role may not be extensive but he plays Roy’s father, a figure who is both captivating and deeply troubled. Jones’s performance brings a tragic depth to the film’s philosophical aspects, depicting a man who is both obsessed and tormented by relentless failure.
Ruth Negga as Helen Lantos
Helen operates from a base stationed on Mars. As an operations officer, she becomes Roy’s surprising ally. Personally, her family’s murder at the hands of Clifford McBride gives her a personal stake in the mission’s success. The scenes performed by her and Pitt portray some of the very few emotional ties outside of the father and son bond.
Liv Tyler as Eve McBride
Although her role is minor, Tyler’s character showcases the life Roy has chosen to disconnect from. Through flashbacks and imagery, she becomes emblematic of the emotionally detached existence Roy risks by staying withdrawn.
Donald Sutherland as Colonel Pruitt
Aside from being a close friend to Clifford McBride, Pruitt travels with Roy for part of the journey and gives some perspective on the elder McBride’s influence. Adding Sutherland in the film brings some of the early scenes more weight.
Ad Astra – Directed by James Gray
Films such as The Lost City of Z and Two Lovers tell us a lot about James Gray, and highlight his focus on personal, character-driven stories. The science fiction genre sues him best, as it allows him to expand on deeply personal themes. He does not focus on spectacle, Gray prefers to explore mood, emotional nuance, and philosophy. Ad Astra is a film inspired by Apocalypse Now, reimagined in a spacefaring context.
Cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema
The visual composition of Ad Astra is breathtaking. Hoyte van Hoytema, known for Interstellar and Dunkirk, captures the cold majesty of space with vivid contrast. The cinematography does not simply serve to depict the film’s rich visual and emotional isolation. It does not simply depict the stark lunar landscapes or rich blues of Neptune’s orbit.
Music by Max Richter
Max Richter’s score is the epitome of elegance, enhancing the film’s introspective tone. His music highlight’s the film’s emotional undercurrents, often resorting to minimalistic arrangements to mirror Roy’s solitude and the metamorphosis he undergoes.
Themes and Analysis
Isolation and Emotional Suppression
Roy’s route in the film is not simply across the solar system, but a journey within himself. His emotional distance is a product of the military culture he was raised in, which prizes peak levels of stoicism. Traversing farther from Earth triggers a confrontation with a vast emotional void within himself and the father’s wounds of abandonment.
The Search for Meaning
The film deals with the existential question of whether we are alone in the universe. Alien life is a reality Clifford has spent his entire life searching for, and his obsession comes with a heavy cost. For Roy, the reality is even harsh: true meaning is not in the distant universe, but in the bonds with people and emotional honesty.
Fathers and Sons
Ad Astra is fundamentally a father and son story, with the search being motivated for a closure alongside a sentry for duty. It also highlights the impact of parental expectations on identity and how the legacy can both weigh you down and show you the way.
Conclusion
It is rare to find a film in the science fiction genre that focuses on the human element and emotional introspection, as opposed to action and adventure. While the film includes breathtaking depictions of space travel and action, the most powerful element is the emotions and philosophy interwoven in the story.
Thus far, the film has deeply impacted me, and I am sure that strengthened with the uncompromised emotional depth, the harsh truth we are human beings and not the center of universe, brings rings profoundly sharp observations of life and space.
Under the direction of James Gray with the powerful and subtle performance of Brad Pitt, Ad Astra is a deeply personal story disguised as a meditative space odyssey. Their heartbreak comes not in silence, but amidst the indomitable silence, in the vicinity of everything we consider breathtaking and far beyond us. The most profound discoveries are not out there in the universe, but within the human heart.
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