I am finding Ad Astra to be a hard movie to review. The film by James Gray is gorgeous, and features a great performance from Brad Pitt, but considering Gray and Pitt have both admitted that Apocalypse Now and 2001: A Space Odyssey were the main influences for this movie, it shares the flaws of those two films: It is a slow internal struggle of a man set to some amazing imagery, and that is it. Ad Astra is a very hard film to engage with since it bores you and keeps you at arms length. Seemingly saying, “Look at me, but don’t get to close!” I could go on about the story, or Pitt’s acting ability, but I would just be writing in circles to fill space, and that doesn’t help anyone making a decision to see this film or not.
In the end, if you want to see Pitt at the top of his game, and Gray do his best to bring the lifeless void of space to life, give Ad Astra a shot. If you really like 2001 or Apocalypse Now and wonder why they don’t make films like that anymore, you are in luck, but for everyone else, you can probably skip it, or wait for some lazy rainy Sunday when a slow movie about a man finding himself while getting lost would go great with a warm blanket and some hot chocolate.