Ad Astra
Published June 17, 2021
Film info
- Title Ad Astra
- Director James Gray
- Year 2019
- Run time 2hrs 3m
- Genres Drama, Science Fiction
- Tagline The answers we seek are just outside our reach
Astronaut Roy McBride travels to the outer edges of the solar system to find his missing father and unravel a mystery that threatens the survival of our planet. His journey will uncover secrets that challenge the nature of human existence and our place in the cosmos.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 1:30 | Sneaky Latin lesson to kick off. |
| 7:45 | I need a behind the scenes on how this earth structure was built, it’s huge! |
| 12:42 | How would that be possible? It’s like The Martian but on Neptune! |
| 14:43 | Commercial flights to the moon, drool. |
| 20:22 | “I remain mission ready.” Want to adapt that into my vocab, too. |
| 24:11 | Hyperloop on the moon! |
| 29:50 | So weird to have all this violence and crashing and it’s pretty much silent. |
| 38:54 | Potential mutiny in space, loving the drama. |
| 44:59 | Gaffa taping his helmet… fixes everything as always. |
| 47:04 | These automatic psych evaluations are very interesting. |
| 52:36 | Loving Natasha as some kind of Mars receptionist. |
| 58:44 | The soundproofing on Mars is incredible. |
| 1:09:43 | Never thought about a spacesuit also being a divesuit, but of course it is watertight. |
| 1:15:42 | I was worried about the stowaway problem but… that’s not a problem now. |
| 1:24:32 | Neptune is pretty. |
| 1:39:26 | BP + TLJ is some pretty epic two-handering. |
| 1:44:21 | I love the problem-solving nature of astronauts and the like. |
Thoughts
This one’s been on our list for a while - you can’t really go wrong with Brad Pitt and space travel, can you? It was different to what I was expecting but I still enjoyed it. It’s not an all-out action sci-fi movie, it’s a more introspective drama, focusing on the relationships of a family, the effect of space travel and adventure on mental health and ultimately, sacrifice.
But it had action moments - the pirate fight on the moon, the mayday disaster, the final bid for survival. It’s just they seemed to be tagged on, opening up threads that could have made for interesting movies in themselves, but ultimately never being resolved. Not necessarily plot holes but certainly plot tangents that I was left wondering about.
Overall though, a good movie, with the main message, as always, that you should bring gaffa tape with you wherever you go.
Rating: 3 / 5