Other than the fact that it was a total waste of two hours of my precious life, I’ve been trying to figure out why I’ve been in such a bad mood since seeing Ad Astra, the movie in which Brad Pitt goes to outer space to deal with his daddy issues.
I mean, we’ve seen a lot of bad movies but there was something about this one that Michael and I both resented so deeply. While Brad was trying to figure out his life, we napped, we rolled our eyes, we checked the time, we sighed.
So here’s the basic premise: Astronaut Roy McBride (Pitt) is sent on a mission to discover if his legendary astronaut father, Clifford (Tommy Lee Jones), is still alive and is the one who’s wreaking havoc on the entire solar system. You see, Clifford was head of the Lima Project, the first deep space mission, 30 years ago, and he hasn’t been heard from in 14 years, since the spaceship and its crew mysteriously disappeared.
But lately there have been some unexplained power surges coming from Neptune, the last place Clifford was known to be, and Roy is the perfect bait to bring him out of hiding.
Of course, Roy is still suffering from the idea that his father abandoned him. He’s a loner who screwed up his relationship with Liv Tyler (who must have only taken this role because — well, honestly, I don’t know why since she literally has such a generic role, she could have been played by anyone) and is constantly taking psychological tests to make sure he’s emotionally ready for his mission.
There are a lot of long, boring shots of space with some WTF Mad Max and Planet of the Apes-like scenes thrown in for those who like that kind of thing (spoiler alert: I don’t) and lots of spacecraft and instruments and metal for those who like that kind of thing (spoiler alert: I don’t).
There are also some emotional moments, like Roy crying, for those who like that kind of thing — which I totally do except they were so blatant and contrived, it all left me feeling as empty as the endless space surrounding Roy and his heart. When he finally “lets go” of his father, it’s a big relief because it means the movie must be close to the end.
Ad Astra could have benefited from one of those power surges.
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