Ad Astra

A beautifully filmed show of tasteful gibberish and persistent utterance of everything. In addition, culminating in a B-movie, which fully reveals how, despite the burden of beauty, Ad Astra is actually an internally simple movie that ostentatiously wears the robe of spiritual science fiction. I would have made it all about the monkeys. Space Baboons. (21/09/2019)

A more intimate version of Interstellar, with similar formal opulence, musical arrangement and philosophy, but less ambitious artistically and script-wise, without a climactic finale or even highlight scenes. A cosmic father-son relationship drama and a story about making the right life choices and decisions that doesn’t take place exclusively on planet Earth. Brad Pitt is again fantastic. (25/09/2019)

Coppola’s Apocalypse Now in a sci-fi guise, with the same structure and the same orientation points. Gray’s tribute to the master. The same as the book by Conrad that it’s based on, this is a story of the essence of man and our role in the environment in which we live. The result isn’t the same, but that doesn’t matter. The journey to find your father is more important than the destination. There is no lack of action scenes and Hoyte van Hoytema outdoes himself again. Visually, it is like manna for the eyes. Pitt’s voiceover as the guide with a mental state of stoic calm, who doesn’t like people, works excellently. As does the father figure veiled in secrets, played by Tommy Lee Jones. The universality of this story about loneliness is made more intense by the emptiness of space. The laws of physics are not too important here. Despite all the big scenes, it’s an extremely low-key movie. A meditative masterpiece that isn’t for everybody, but few people will walk away completely unsatisfied. (20/09/2019)

I regret that Ad Astra is one of the few films I missed in the cinema this year, because the trailer was deceiving. It is definitely not a boring sci-fi drama, but a pretty action-packed and intense space thriller, the kind we haven’t seen in a long time. Brad Pitt is excellent in his role and I was very impressed by the colonization on Mars and the Moon, where there are even pirates already (Mad Max in space) – I wouldn't be angry at all if the whole plot was set only there – but the search for the father was also quite entertaining and, moreover, I don't remember a cinematic portrayal of Neptune. The action scenes are awesome, the opening explosion on the Tower of Babel is thrilling as fuck, or the chase with the lunar vehicles, or the fight with the infected monkeys. In places the film is unexpectedly gritty and I liked that a lot. Despite my big fears, it was a lot of fun and a nice space experience. 8/10. (04/12/2019)

Ad Astra is a psychological analysis of the mind of an astronaut who has to sort out his relationship with his dead (?) father. This is no spectacular sci-fi hit, but a cleverly written, self-reflective monologue of Brad Pitt’s character about inner doubts regarding the sense of absolute devotion to his work at the cost of deviating from the path where his heart is telling him to go. Space travel, though nicely conceived, makes the film “only” visually more attractive and adds a magical philosophical dimension. The climax may even disappoint some hardcore sci-fi fans expecting something big to happen. The film is akin to Chazelle’s First Man, which was, however, more emotional and fragile. (13/09/2019)