Caffeinated Clint
A capsule comprising of Joseph Conrad, Carl Jung, Christopher Nolan, Arthur C.Clarke and Paul Verhoeven can only orbit to one place — and an intellect’s sci-fi paradise is indeed where James Gray’s “Ad Astra” docks.
A love letter to science fiction, and a reassuring reminder that the big screen needs to remain a permanent fixture in our filmgoing future, this curiously titled film – don’t be fooled car lovers, it’s not a documentary on the Holden Motor Company’s marketing tactics – combines supersymmetric smarts with the best Eyeon Fusion has to offer. The result is a patient, thought-provoking trek through the stars that’s not so much concerned with MTV Movie Award noms as it is playing therapist to the many of us wrestling with a constant feeling of disconnect or, as it may also be, daddy issues.
A sort-of Lunar-Apocalypse Now with the visual template of more recent space-set stunners like “Interstellar” and “Gravity”, “Ad Astra” tells the dyed-in-the-wool yarn of a lone warrior entering uncharted territory in search of a long lost, possibly stir crazy protege.
In this case, astronaut Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) is travelling to the outer edges of the solar system to find his long missing pop (Tommy Lee Jones), a man who might also know how to thwart a mysterious threat that has started to slowly destroy Earth.
Despite what’s on offer in the film’s first half-hour – a fun assemblage of futuristic sci-fun moments that wouldn’t have been out of place in “Total Recall” or “Blade Runner” – there’s a much headier, and more intellectual offering at play here. Yes, there’s several brilliant, white-knuckle action sequences (the first, taking place within the film’s opening moments) and the plot does stop-off in Philip K.Dick territory here and there, but Gray and co-writer Ethan Gross’s main motivation here isn’t so much to thrill as it is to offer each audience a respective psychological check-up.
Pitt, hot off a somewhat welcomingly wired turn in “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood”, is the most restrained he’s been – perhaps since Terry Malick’s “Tree of Life”, of which the film has many similarities actually- as our hero, freshly scarring by the minute from the physical and emotional test he’s enlisted in.
The supporting cast – Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and a brief Liv Tyler the biggest names on the credit block – are all solid too, but nothing can quite compete with the captivating, all-encompassing performance William Bradley Pitt gives.
The heavy themes, heady plot and real-world commentary combined with the outstanding visuals and poppy postcard from a possible future results in a wonderful “Star Trek” meets “Interstellar” hybrid. But don’t be fooled, “Ad Astra” is no homage to what’s come before, nor is it a patchwork of opposing genres, but in fact Gray’s film is such a refreshingly unique and skilled film – and the cheapest psychotherapy session you’ll get – that it might just reaffirm your love of cinema.
And for the unversed, the title is Latin “per ardua ad astra” which means “through struggle to the stars”.
