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"Ad Astra": Nathan's Movie Review
Ad Astra is one of those films that you have to be in the proper mindset to thoroughly enjoy and appreciate. In many places, it seemed like a molding together of Tree of Life and Interstellar, but never really managed to reach the heights those two films did.
The film follows Roy McBride, an astronaut who works on a space station inside earth's atmosphere. One day, he has a bad fall and loses all sense of what's meaningful to him. His wife leaves him and all he has left is his thoughts. He's given a new mission, however, one that he never saw coming. He's to travel to the Neptune station to find his father Cliff. What Cliff knows could help stop a series of electrical strikes that have worsened over time, threatening all life in our solar system.
I've read in several different reviews that this film is being hailed as Brad Pitt's best performance ever. I'm not sure that I would go that far, but what I can say is that this is certainly in his top five. The haunted past that his character has plus what he faces in his journey throughout the film is a philosophical depth that only a few actors can successfully reach. Pitt does a fantastic job of blending emotion and drama together to make us feel for his character, especially when the big moments arrive. Tommy Lee Jones, even though he had a small role, gave an incredible performance as a man who has become obsessed with his mission. He and Pitt were a perfect match-up, Jones having become emotionless and Pitt having harbored a lifetime's worth of emotion. Applause all around for those two.
The negative part of the film is that it can sometimes drag when it has no reason to. There are extended shots that were pretty but unnecessary and others that did nothing for the plot or purpose of the film.
In conclusion, I did enjoy the film and I recommend it for people who have patience and a love for philosophy. It's a slow-paced, beautiful rediscovery of the human spirit, certainly not for the action-mongers out there. I give Ad Astra a 3.5 out of 4.
© 2019 Nathan Jasper