{"id":19121,"date":"2019-09-19T14:31:48","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T21:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=19121"},"modified":"2019-09-19T14:31:48","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T21:31:48","slug":"ad-astra-is-absorbing-and-features-a-few-wondrous-sights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=19121","title":{"rendered":"AD ASTRA is Absorbing and Features a Few Wondrous Sights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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If any scientists out there are planning on building a lab in space, they might want to check out the new sci-fi drama Ad Astra<\/em>. It may compel them to think twice about bringing along a very specific mammalian species along for the ride. For the rest of us, this is a low-key but tense and engaging space drama that effectively combines thrills with personal introspection on the meaning of life and, to a lesser extent, dealing with family grievances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The film is set in the future with Earth under dire\nthreat due to a series of cataclysmic electrical storms coming from Neptune. Not\nlong after, the military approach and fill in astronaut Roy McBride (Brad Pitt)\non some of the surprising details. They believe that the lead\u2019s scientist father\nClifford (Tommy Lee Jones) may have survived an ill-fated mission to the edge\nof the galaxy and could be responsible for the energy bursts. Believing Roy to\nbe austere and unemotional with the capacity for dealing in a direct manner,\nColonel Pruitt (Donald Sutherland) asks him to travel to Mars and relay a\nmessage to his dad in the hopes of receiving a response. However, the trip\nitself poses more danger than expected and Roy begins to question the motives\nof his father, his superiors and his own life choices.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Roy is an incredibly understated character and some\ncredit should be given to the lead actor for keeping viewers interested in his\nplight. Despite the numerous threats encountered, he barely raises an eyebrow.\nIt\u2019s a technique that could have killed the suspense, yet the mystery\npresented, the inherent dangers of the mission and Roy\u2019s ever-growing concern and\ndoubts about the motivations of all involved manage to keep the tension high\nand the plot moving along even when the character is being self-reflective. He\u2019s\nharboring a great deal of resentment towards his parent and despite insisting\notherwise, is clearly stressed by a possible interaction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Visually, the movie is incredible and includes\nspectacularly convincing futuristic environments, particularly on the Moon,\nwhich Roy visits on his way to Mars. It\u2019s here where the filmmakers add some\nunique and interesting story touches, including recognizable business\nsponsorships and advertising on the base, alongside the threat of warring\nfactions and conflicts across the surface of the satellite. It\u2019s handled so\nauthentically that these striking images linger in the brain and add\nbelievability to the scenario. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And when things go sideways and action needs to be\ntaken, the results are equally exceptional. This film features four or five\nstandout scenes filled with both thrilling and frightening twists and surprises.\nThis includes enduring a hair-raising disaster on a towering structure, a\ndynamic moon buggy chase, a tension filled exploration through a seemingly\nabandoned spacecraft and many others. The gravity-free environments allow the\nshots to hold, and slow in the middle of conflict, raising tension during the\nheight of the drama. Visual and sound effects are top-notch and the\nenvironments lensed by cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema (Interstellar<\/em>, Spectre<\/em>,\nDunkirk<\/em>) make a lasting impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Admittedly, not all elements of the film work equally\nwell. Roy\u2019s relationship with his ex-wife Eve (Liv Tyler) is given short shrift\u2026\nto the point where one wonders why she participated in the project at all.\nAnother issue with the film relates to the mannerisms of the lead character and\nhis propensity to always explain his thoughts clearly and succinctly. Events\nduring the trip do have a dramatic impact and change the way he views the world,\nalthough it\u2019s nothing unexpected. The narration is appropriate to the character,\nalthough his voice-overs about living in the moment as well as connecting with\nthe people and world around him is presented in a little too direct and\nexplicit a fashion. In the end, the emotional revelations for Roy don\u2019t make as\nbig an impact as they could have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, Ad Astra<\/em> is an absorbing trip overall and\nits problems don\u2019t detract dramatically from the overall experience. There are\na few bumps in this journey to the stars and one might eventually know where\nthey are headed, but the performances and sights are, at times, a wonder to\nbehold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If any scientists out there are planning on building a lab in space, they might want to check out the new sci-fi drama Ad Astra. It may compel them to think twice about bringing along a very specific mammalian species along for the ride. For the rest of us, this is a low-key but tense […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[197,697,713,714,715,716,3391,6127,6251,12522,13289,14069,14219,14676,17775,18777,22825,23061],"class_list":["post-19121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-197","tag-action","tag-ad-astra","tag-ad-astra-film-review","tag-ad-astra-movie-review","tag-ad-astra-review","tag-brad-pitt","tag-donald-sutherland","tag-drama","tag-liv-tyler","tag-mars","tag-mission","tag-moon","tag-neptune","tag-science-fiction","tag-space-travel","tag-thriller","tag-tommy-lee-jones"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19121\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}