Ad Astra

Released in the UK on the 18th September (yesterday). 
The adverts made it look like nothing special and that would sum it up. 
Did we really need another movie about Astronauts? No. Was this movie going to be a hit? No.
So let's analyse what we spent two hours staring at.

Major Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) is the son of a legend, according to Space Command. He is an Astronaut and he falls from the station just above Earth when a power surge from Neptune destroys almost every complex that the US Space programme have on any other planet. Roy falls from this complex at the start of the movie but doesn't die, he isn't even injured. His heart rate never gets above 80 (which is very impressive) and so he is sent on a classified mission to Neptune, to locate his father, who is secretly believed to be alive and part of the 'Lima Project' which is based on Neptune. 



Roy makes it from Earth to the Moon and then from the Moon to Mars but during that flight he and the captain of the rocket that he is being transported in stop to answer a distress call from a biological transportation ship. They discover that there is no one aboard the ship as they were all attacked by a biologically improved form of Ape. The Captain is killed by this Ape and Roy manages to kill both the Apes on board and attempts to save the Captain. Upon returning with the Captain to the rocket, the Captain is pronounced dead and the last rights are said before his body is removed from the space craft and left floating in space. There are some problems landing on Mars and Roy has to take manual control from 1st Lieutenant who has become afraid of the ship. Roy lands it successfully and omits that detail from his mission report. The 1st Lieutenant is promoted to Captain.

Roy, now on Mars, attempts to communicate with his father. He reads the transcripts created for him by Space Com but gets no response so instead makes up a more personal speech to send to his father. His father responds but Roy is deemed too emotionally involved, fails his Psychological exam and is to be sent back to Earth. On Mars Roy discovers the truth about his father and the 'Lima Project'. The truth is that a crew were sent out to discover life sources on the planet but could not discover any. Once they could not locate any life sources most of the crew wished to return to Earth but Dr McBride would not let them. His crew turned on him so he killed them all. 

The rocket which Roy arrived in has now been equipped with nuclear weapons as their mission is to destroy the Lima rocket on Neptune so that they can continue to cover up what has really happened. Roy already has been given some data suggesting a cover up by his escort from Earth to the Moon and on Mars he is shown classified information detailing the real events. Roy goes aboard the rocket, against all order and in doing so, the rest of the crew end up dead as they try to remove him from the rocket and shoot him. Instead of shooting him the captain accidentally hits an air tank and the air in the rocket is contaminated. Roy attempts to save them but cannot so he flies to Neptune alone. 

On Neptune he plants the nuclear device and is reunited with his father. He attempts to take his father away from the ship and bring him back to Earth but his father, having declared that the only thing that he really loved was his job, un clips himself from Roy and fights with Roy to let him go. His father, played by Tommy Lee Jones, dies in Space and Roy uses the blast from the nuclear device to propel him back to earth, where he crash lands and is retrieved by the US space force. That is the end of the movie. 

This movie is a waste of time. There is no real action and he doesn't even manage to save his father. The movie doesn't show us if he is punished for disobeying orders or if he reveals the cover up. There were so many better endings for this movie than the one that they went with and in the end you just feel like you have wasted your time. There is no spectacular acting in it and it makes you wonder what caused Pitt to agree to make this movie. The plot was nothing special and the movie was clearly never going to win him any award or recognition so why do it?

Don't waste your money on this film. It wont change your life or even make you feel anything over the course of the two hours that you spend watching it. It hasn't added anything to our cinematic universe or the world of film. It's one of those films that you will quite easily forget was ever made. Not bad and not good, not made of anything to draw any response from you. It is, in every way, forgettable. 

Next up will be the Fast and Furious spin off: Hobbs and Shaw.