Still to this day many look out to the stars with great wonder. Ad Astra takes place in a near future where a new found obsession with space has led to the colonization of our moon and other planets, but has also sent us into deep space exploration. Promoted as a sci-fi film, Ad Astra has may layers and is actually deeper than most sci-fi films take you and the trailers would lead you to believe. With strong performances and incredible cinematography, Ad Astra takes you on a very vintage sci-fi ride while telling a very dramatic story.

This is Brad Pitt‘s (Roy McBride) second performance piece of the year and carries Ad Astra on his shoulders. Pitt plays a complicated character, closed off from the planet and others, who looks to the stars for answers and meaning. As the film progresses you start to see the layers peeled away from his character showing the complexity and torment a seemingly composed astronaut has carried since childhood. Tommy Lee Jones (H. Clifford McBride) plays his father who is a national hero who left him as a boy to explore the furthest planets in our solar system never returning. There are other notable supporting actors in the film but this is Pitt’s movie. With his strong acting and gripping cinematography, Ad Astra follows a son searching for answers from himself, his father, and the cosmos.

Ad Astra is a very heavy film. The worst part of the film is the way it was presented in the trailers. What many would perceive as a sci-fi film of space exploration with action and suspense is actually a dramatic character piece that honors the classic space films of the past that tells a story as a classic drama. Ad Astra is best described as the love child of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Apocalypse Now. The danger of the misleading trailer is that it leads audiences to believe there are things coming that it will not deliver, leaving some audience members disappointed. If you go into the theatre expecting a film that is going to take you on a mans complex journey rather than a film about space wars you will be able to truly appreciate the film. A film shot with vintage lenses and angles that honor the early sci-fi movies that were inspired by a society who had recently reached the moon, while using updated special effects that launch you into the vastness of space. Ad Astra is able to build a future that is easily imagined while never losing focus of the journey of a forgotten son. While the content may be for all ages, it will take some maturity to appreciate the depth of the film. If you have yet to see Ad Astra do not take the opinions of those who went in expecting the typical sci-fi story. Hopefully this review sets the proper expectations for you to go in and enjoy the film for what it is. Sadly many will see this movie and not appreciate its depth and beauty due to improper expectations, but those of you yet to see the film who are reading this should go see Ad Astra and appreciate great filmmaking and storytelling.