Ad Astra. (15.)
Directed by James Grey.
Starring Brad Pitt, Donald Sutherland, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, John Ortiz and Tommy Lee Jones. 122 mins.
What is written beneath is my original rave review of this film. Now, having seen it again on a plane during a long haul flight I can now see why so many of you thought it to be very boring. Stripped of the big screen Brad's constant whining about his dad is annoying and, Spoilers, the second half, everything from the moment he boards a space rocket just as it is about to launch and "accidentally" kills everybody on board, is deeply stupid. I think I must've known this when I first saw it but I was so excited by the ambition and beauty of the opening hour and the prospect of giving the first five star review in the paper for around twenty months that I went with my enthusiasm.
The advertising is very concerned with pushing this as a Brad Pitt movie rather than a space movie. But Ad Astra is definitely a space film, and a very fine space movie, comparable in ambition, themes and execution to the very best of this century's attempts to reach out into the void and find something similar to 2001: A Space Odyssey. But it is also very much a Brad Pitt star vehicle; as totally and utterly a Brad Pitt film as it's possible to get, short of him doing a one-man show.
The hook is a heart of darkness journey with astronaut Pitt going to the edge of the solar system to confront his dead, hero father who now seems to have gone Colonel Kurtz with a classified anti-matter generator. The first hour, as Pitt is transferred from Earth to Moon to Mars, is immaculate big screen science fiction. The cinematography is by Hoyte Van Hoytema, who was behind the camera on Interstellar, and it has the same stunning shot-right-there-on-location-in-space look, though done on perhaps half the budget. (And this time he didn't have to film lots of drab wheat fields.) This is definitely a slow-moving, cerebral sci-fi but with some phenomenally well executed action sequences, which are all the more effective for being designed not to drum up lots of empty thrills but to exploit the terror characters feel in a situation.
It's a remarkable vision of space exploration, with Pitt front and centre throughout. Nobody else gets much of a look in. It's a very traditional star role. The screenwriter's mantra is give the star everything. His character is lost and alienated and his voice-over expresses the distance he feels from other people, but this just makes him a classic loner. He is always the most competent figure in any situation, the one who takes control if there is a problem. His resting heart rate never goes over 80, even when he's in life and death situations.
This concentration on the star makes you wary of the film's intentions but though I do have some issues with some implausibilities in the second half, I think the film is equal to, and generally surpasses the films it takes inspiration from: Interstellar, Arrival, Gravity, the Clooney version of Solaris. Granted, crossing the solar system simple to reconcile with daddy makes humanity seem pathetically self absorbed but beyond its human interest story the film addresses more weighty themes with wisdom and insight.
Directed by James Grey.
Starring Brad Pitt, Donald Sutherland, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, John Ortiz and Tommy Lee Jones. 122 mins.
What is written beneath is my original rave review of this film. Now, having seen it again on a plane during a long haul flight I can now see why so many of you thought it to be very boring. Stripped of the big screen Brad's constant whining about his dad is annoying and, Spoilers, the second half, everything from the moment he boards a space rocket just as it is about to launch and "accidentally" kills everybody on board, is deeply stupid. I think I must've known this when I first saw it but I was so excited by the ambition and beauty of the opening hour and the prospect of giving the first five star review in the paper for around twenty months that I went with my enthusiasm.
The advertising is very concerned with pushing this as a Brad Pitt movie rather than a space movie. But Ad Astra is definitely a space film, and a very fine space movie, comparable in ambition, themes and execution to the very best of this century's attempts to reach out into the void and find something similar to 2001: A Space Odyssey. But it is also very much a Brad Pitt star vehicle; as totally and utterly a Brad Pitt film as it's possible to get, short of him doing a one-man show.
The hook is a heart of darkness journey with astronaut Pitt going to the edge of the solar system to confront his dead, hero father who now seems to have gone Colonel Kurtz with a classified anti-matter generator. The first hour, as Pitt is transferred from Earth to Moon to Mars, is immaculate big screen science fiction. The cinematography is by Hoyte Van Hoytema, who was behind the camera on Interstellar, and it has the same stunning shot-right-there-on-location-in-space look, though done on perhaps half the budget. (And this time he didn't have to film lots of drab wheat fields.) This is definitely a slow-moving, cerebral sci-fi but with some phenomenally well executed action sequences, which are all the more effective for being designed not to drum up lots of empty thrills but to exploit the terror characters feel in a situation.
It's a remarkable vision of space exploration, with Pitt front and centre throughout. Nobody else gets much of a look in. It's a very traditional star role. The screenwriter's mantra is give the star everything. His character is lost and alienated and his voice-over expresses the distance he feels from other people, but this just makes him a classic loner. He is always the most competent figure in any situation, the one who takes control if there is a problem. His resting heart rate never goes over 80, even when he's in life and death situations.
This concentration on the star makes you wary of the film's intentions but though I do have some issues with some implausibilities in the second half, I think the film is equal to, and generally surpasses the films it takes inspiration from: Interstellar, Arrival, Gravity, the Clooney version of Solaris. Granted, crossing the solar system simple to reconcile with daddy makes humanity seem pathetically self absorbed but beyond its human interest story the film addresses more weighty themes with wisdom and insight.
