Mini Film Review – Ad Astra

I have just been out to see Ad Astra; and it was alright. Directed by James Gray and starring Brad Pitt; Ad Astra is a film about an astronaut’s voyage through our solar system on a mission to prevent a series of power surges from killing anymore people. The idea was good, and it was a film that draws your attention in right from the start. The special effects are a visual treat for the eyes, and quite possibly some of the best this decade. The film creates a new and up-to-date vision of an outdated belief in what the future of mankind was once dreamt to be. The film itself was a little slow, and whilst still an entertaining watch, it was dragging a bit with some of it’s core synopsis values getting lost as the film nears its end. Some of the story was rather predictable, and the ending just seemed way too positive and unbelievable in comparison to the events before hand. The film also struggled with the handling of it’s own star power (despite the film being set mostly in space), with major stars such as Liv Tyler, Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland given top billing, and then only making more cameo appearances rather than actual major parts. Pitt’s character was also poorly developed with only a few tingles of progression at the very end. It’s an alright film, but only of value to it’s environment; not it’s story. If you want to see Brad Pitt go on a journey of discovery and talk to people: Look somewhere else!