People either love or hate James Gray’s Ad Astra. It's just one of those movies. When you sit down to watch the 2019 Brad Pitt sci-fi thriller, you aren't getting Star Wars. You aren't even really getting Interstellar. What you’re actually getting is a $100 million art film about a guy with a really low pulse rate who desperately needs a hug from his dad.
It's weird. It's gorgeous. Honestly, it's kind of a bummer.
Brad Pitt plays Roy McBride. He’s an astronaut who is famous for never letting his heart rate go above 80 BPM, even when he’s literally falling from a space antenna in the opening scene. That scene is terrifying. It sets a tone of high-stakes action that the rest of the movie doesn't always follow, which is exactly why some audiences felt a bit cheated when they saw it in theaters. They expected Top Gun in space. Instead, they got a meditative journey into the Neptune-adjacent darkness.
What Ad Astra Is Actually About (And Why It’s Not Just "Space Pirates")
The plot is basically Heart of Darkness but with moon buggies. Roy is sent on a top-secret mission to find his father, H. Clifford McBride (played by a very craggy Tommy Lee Jones), who disappeared decades ago near Neptune. The elder McBride was leading "The Lima Project," an initiative meant to find extraterrestrial life. The problem? He might still be alive, and he might be causing "surges" of anti-matter that are threatening to destroy all life in the solar system.
Most people remember the moon chase. It’s arguably the best part of the 2019 Brad Pitt sci-fi thriller. In Gray's vision of the future, the moon isn't some mystical frontier; it's a tourist trap. There’s a DHL office and an Applebee’s. It’s cynical and hilarious. But once you leave the "safe" zones, it’s the Wild West. Watching lunar rovers engage in a silent, deadly shootout is peak cinema. There’s no sound because, well, physics. Just the thud of kinetic energy and the terrifying sight of a pressurized suit popping.
But after that? The movie slows down. Way down.
Roy spends a lot of time talking to himself in voiceovers. This was a point of contention during production. Director James Gray originally didn't want the heavy narration, but the studio—fearing audiences wouldn't understand Roy's internal struggle—pushed for it. If you feel like the movie is over-explaining things, that’s why. It’s the classic battle between a director's vision and a studio's bottom line.
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The Science vs. The Spectacle
Let's talk about the physics for a second. Ad Astra tries really hard to feel grounded, but it takes some massive leaps.
The "Surges" are a bit of a MacGuffin. Science advisor Robert Yowell, a former NASA engineer, worked on the film to keep things semi-realistic, but even he had to shrug at some of the creative choices. For instance, the way Roy uses a piece of sheet metal as a shield while flying through Neptune’s rings? Yeah, that’s total nonsense. In reality, he’d be shredded into Swiss cheese in about four seconds.
However, the depiction of space fatigue is spot on. The movie captures the psychological toll of long-term space travel—the isolation, the recycled air, the "comfort rooms" where they project videos of birds and trees to keep astronauts from losing their minds. It's a lonely movie.
Why the ending still sparks debates
By the time Roy reaches Neptune, the movie shifts from a thriller into a heavy-duty family drama. Clifford McBride isn't a hero. He’s a fanatic. He’s a man who looked into the void, found nothing, and decided that if aliens didn't exist, nothing else mattered—including his own son.
It’s a bleak realization.
A lot of sci-fi movies end with the discovery of some Great Beyond or a benevolent alien race. Ad Astra does the opposite. It tells us that we are all we have. For some, that’s an empowering message about appreciating humanity. For others, it felt like a massive anti-climax after two hours of buildup.
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The Technical Mastery Behind the Lens
We can't talk about this 2019 Brad Pitt sci-fi thriller without mentioning Hoyte van Hoytema. He’s the cinematographer who also shot Oppenheimer and Interstellar. The man knows how to make a frame look expensive.
They shot on 35mm film. This gives the movie a texture that digital just can't replicate. The blacks are deeper. The highlights are warmer. When Roy is drifting in the shadows of Neptune, the blue hues are so rich you could almost drown in them. It’s one of the few recent sci-fi films that actually looks better on a massive OLED screen than in a standard theater.
- Production Budget: Roughly $80 million to $100 million.
- Box Office: It pulled in around $135 million worldwide.
- The Verdict: A "box office flop" by traditional standards, but a cult classic in the making for sci-fi purists.
The sound design is another beast entirely. Max Richter’s score is haunting, but the use of silence is what actually lingers. In space, no one can hear you have an existential crisis. The film uses that silence to heighten Roy’s isolation. When a sound does happen—like the screech of a rogue research animal on a derelict station—it’s jarring and visceral.
Why You Should Re-watch It Now
If you haven't seen Ad Astra since 2019, you might find it hits differently now. In a post-pandemic world, the themes of isolation and the "necessity of human connection" feel a lot less like abstract concepts and a lot more like lived experiences.
Brad Pitt’s performance is incredibly understated here. He’s doing so much with just his eyes. It’s a "subtraction" performance. He’s stripping away the movie star charisma to show a man who has spent his whole life building walls around his heart. It’s probably one of the most honest portrayals of repressed trauma in a blockbuster.
Is it perfect? No. The pacing is weird. The baboon scene feels like it belongs in a different movie (though it’s terrifying). The logic of the final escape is questionable at best.
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But it’s ambitious.
In a landscape of sequels and cinematic universes, a standalone, high-budget, philosophical space odyssey is a rare bird. It’s a movie that asks big questions and isn't afraid to give a quiet, uncomfortable answer.
How to Get the Most Out of the Ad Astra Experience
To truly appreciate what this film is trying to do, you have to change your expectations. Don't go in looking for a pulse-pounding thriller. Instead, treat it like a visual poem about the relationship between fathers and sons.
- Watch it on the biggest screen possible. The scale of the planet shots is half the experience.
- Pay attention to the color shifts. The film moves from the warm, dusty oranges of Earth and Mars to the cold, oppressive blues of the outer planets. It’s a visual representation of Roy’s emotional state.
- Listen for the "psych evaluations." The recurring scenes where Roy has to pass an automated psych test are the heartbeat of the film. They show his slow descent from "perfectly stable" to "deeply human."
- Ignore the sheet metal shield logic. Just let that one go. It’s for the vibes.
Ad Astra isn't interested in being your favorite popcorn flick. It wants to get under your skin. It wants you to feel the weight of the vacuum. And honestly? It succeeds. It reminds us that no matter how far we travel into the stars, we’re still just carrying our own baggage with us.
If you’re looking for a deep dive into the technical aspects, check out the behind-the-scenes features on the 4K Blu-ray. They detail how they used real footage from the Apollo missions to inspire the lunar landscapes. It’s a masterclass in blending practical philosophy with digital effects.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Check Streaming Availability: As of now, the film frequently rotates through platforms like Hulu and Disney+ (under the 20th Century Studios banner).
- Compare with "The Lost City of Z": If you liked the "obsessive quest" vibe, watch James Gray's previous film. It’s basically the same story but in the Amazon jungle instead of Neptune.
- Listen to the Soundtrack: Max Richter’s "To the Stars" is incredible focus music for work or reading.
- Upgrade Your Setup: If ever there was a movie to justify buying a 4K player and a decent pair of headphones, this is it. The soundstage is designed for immersive listening.
The film stands as a testament to the idea that the most dangerous frontier isn't space—it's the human mind. Whether you find that profound or pretentious is up to you, but you can't deny that Ad Astra is a singular piece of filmmaking that refuses to be forgotten.