Ad Astra
starring Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland
written by James Gray and Ethan Gross
directed by James Gray
Rating: ♦♦♦♦◊
Meaning “To the Stars,” Ad Astra is a science fiction adventure that follows astronaut Major Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) into space in search of his lost father, whose experiment threatens the Solar System. The movie features very realistic dramatization of what space travel might be like. Set in the near future, a resource-starved Earth has set up outposts on the Moon and Mars, deep space exploration is common, and commercial travel to the Moon is controlled by the Virgin company.
Major McBride’s father, H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones) was presumed lost in space 16 years earlier while engaged on a deep-space mission to Neptune, called the “Lima Project.” Now, high-energy bursts - caused by the suspected release of anti-matter from the Lima Project spacecraft - are threatening the Earth. When communication with Clifford McBride was lost, he was presumed dead and all deep-space manned missions (missions beyond Mars) were cancelled. Clifford McBride was turned into the greatest hero of the U.S. Space Command.
However, Space Command secretly thinks McBride is still alive and that he’s gone mad, and they want to sent his son to Neptune to terminate the Lima Project. I mean, terminate it with extreme prejudice, like with a thermonuclear warhead. Because, apparently, the release of anti-matter threatens the entire solar system.
So, first, Roy McBride has to go to the moon. There he battles resource pirates before taking a rocket to Mars from the Far Side. Then from Mars he has to travel further. Naturally, his mission is ultra-top secret, plus we all know that Space Command has an evil agenda that it hasn’t told Roy. Space Command manipulates everyone for - for what? For money. For control.
The movie has a really exciting opening. Watch it and see.