10 Reasons Ad Astra Deserves More Love As One Of The 2010s Best Sci-Fi Films

Five years since its release, Ad Astra has split audiences and critics alike, but it deserves a lot more love. The sci-fi drama stars Brad Pitt as an astronaut who is recruited to contact his father, a rogue commander searching for signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life while orbiting Neptune. It received mixed reviews when it was released, and its $135.4 million box office take constituted a disappointment, given its budget and marketing costs.

Ad Astra isn't what some people thought it would be. It isn't a fast-paced action thriller, nor is it a twisty, cerebral sci-fi story. However, just because Ad Astra surprised audiences with its slow pace and quiet character-based drama, it doesn't deserve to be forgotten. There's a lot to like about Ad Astra, and it belongs in the debate of the best sci-fi movies of recent years. It's possible that Ad Astra will become more popular in the coming years as it gradually finds its audience.

10 Brad Pitt Delivers One Of His Best Performances

Ad Astra Revolves Around Pitt's Performance

Brad Pitt won his first Oscar in 2020 for his performance in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but he could easily have been nominated for Ad Astra too. In case anyone had started to think that Pitt was just a charismatic movie star who could sell tickets, Ad Astra reaffirms the fact that he's also one of the best actors of his generation. Few actors could have been so effortlessly captivating in a movie like Ad Astra.

Many of Brad Pitt's best movies see him playing energetic, comedic oddballs, like Fight Club and Inglourious Basterds. Ad Astra is far subtler and quieter. With James Gray's camera trained on Pitt's face for long stretches of the movie, he is often asked to bring his character to life with silent, stoic facial expressions. Pitt's acting choices are often surprising, but effective. In scenes when he could easily let out a flood of cathartic emotion, he is almost robotic in his reservedness. This makes it all the more impactful when he does decide to go big.

9 The Deliberate Pace May Have Turned Some Audiences Off

Slow-Paced Movies Are Always Divisive

Ad Astra isn't the kind of fast-paced, exciting sci-fi thriller that usually attracts a large audience. It's a meditative personal drama about the relationship between a father and son, and the way that people carry childhood trauma throughout their entire lives. This means that some people might be disappointed with Ad Astra's slow, deliberate pace, especially if they were expecting something as exciting as other spacebound sci-fi blockbusters.

In general, movies that require more patience tend to turn most people away. This is one of the most common criticisms aimed towards Ad Astra. However, for those who can tune into Ad Astra's measured frequency, it's a richly rewarding drama. It isn't the type of movie that's designed to appeal to general audiences and make hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. It's supposed to mean a lot to a smaller group of people.

8 Ad Astra's Creative Action Sequences Make It Stand Out

Ad Astra's Few Action Scenes Are Extremely Memorable

Although Ad Astra is a slow burn, it does have a few explosions of frenzied action. These action sequences feel even more frantic because of the deliberate slowness which surrounds them. Ad Astra opens with Roy tumbling down to Earth amid a mysterious power surge, but it slows down to catch its breath after this sequence. The other action scenes are just as original and just as beautifully shot.

Ad Astra features a confrontation with a feral baboon, a zero-gravity knife fight and a sequence in which Roy is adrift in space, trying to propel himself back to his ship. Each of these scenes are shot in a way that emphasizes the specific danger to Roy at that moment. The most thrilling action scene of all is undoubtedly the lunar rover chase, however, when Roy and his team are ambushed by pirates. The diegetic sound is a simple choice that makes the entire chase scene feel real.

7 Ad Astra Is Visually Stunning

Ad Astra Is Even More Beautiful Than Other Big-Budget Space Movies

Ad Astra has a divisive critical reputation, but even the negative reviews have praised the impressive visuals. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema has worked with Christopher Nolan on many of his most ambitious projects, including Interstellar and Oppenheimer. He teams up with director James Gray to create a spectacular vision of outer space that deserves to be discussed alongside the best sci-fi movies of the 21st century.

While many movies set in space seem to refer to the same playbook, Ad Astra does a few things to distinguish itself from the competition. There are still plenty of shots which utilize empty space, as all outer space sci-fi movies do, but there are also some interesting uses of perspective, light leaks and reflections. Ad Astra also contrasts its wide shots with extreme close-ups, mostly of Roy, which bring the audience into the mind of an astronaut alone in an unending cosmos.

6 The Marketing Campaign Misled Audiences

Ad Astra's Trailers Lean Into The Action

Ad Astra's underwhelming box office return could have something to do with its misleading marketing campaign. This could also be a key reason why some people felt cheated when they finally saw Ad Astra. The trailers seem to sell the movie as a spiritual successor to Interstellar, with the same trippy atmosphere and a compelling mystery that can only be solved in the deepest reaches of the solar system.

Ad Astra and Interstellar don't actually share much in common beyond their superficial similarities. While Christopher Nolan tends to entertain and excite his audience every minute, Ad Astra is content to sit in relative silence for long stretches and let the audience stew. The other problem with Ad Astra's marketing is that it oversold the roles of Liv Tyler, Ruth Negga and Tommy Lee Jones. Really, these are all minor players compared to Brad Pitt.

5 The References To Kubrick And Conrad Are Beautifully Done

Ad Astra Combines 2001: A Space Odyssey With Heart Of Darkness

Ad Astra is far from the only sci-fi movie inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it's a little more obvious with its allusions to the Stanley Kubrick classic. Both movies feature a protagonist journeying to investigate a signal from the far reaches of the solar system, via the moon. Ad Astra also takes some of its visual inspiration from 2001. These references are more than skin-deep, as Ad Astra attempts to conjure the same sense of grandeur to explore its human themes.

The other major influence on Ad Astra seems to be Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Like Apocalypse Now, Ad Astra reinterprets Heart of Darkness in a different setting, but many of the themes are the same. The exploration into the unknown, the rogue military commander and the themes of corruption and evil are all there. Ad Astra wears its influences with pride, but it approaches them with enough creativity to make them feel fresh.

4 Tommy Lee Jones Plays His Role Perfectly

Tommy Lee Jones doesn't have much screen time in Ad Astra, but he still plays a vital role as the father of Roy McBride. Clifford McBride is a legendary astronaut who has done more to assist humanity's progress in outer space than most, but he has spent the last 29 years searching for signs of intelligent life while orbiting Neptune. His specter hangs over Ad Astra long before he finally appears, and Jones doesn't disappoint.

Roy's fateful confrontation with his father is one of the most captivating scenes in Ad Astra, even more so than the exciting action sequences. Brad Pitt spends so much of Ad Astra isolated and alone that it's a refreshing change of pace to see him in such an intimate conversation. The entire story builds toward the meeting of father and son, and Jones ensures that this gamble pays off. There's a deep sadness to his characterization of Clifford that makes a villain suddenly seem like a poor fool.

3 James Gray Creates A Captivating Air Of Tension

Ad Astra Gladly Takes Its Time

One of the reasons that Ad Astra is able to move with such delicate slowness is that James Gray fosters a tense atmosphere throughout. The beautiful visuals and Brad Pitt's lively performance both play their part, but they would be wasted without the friction created by the ongoing mystery of Roy's father. As soon as Roy is told that his father may be alive, Ad Astra is set on a path towards their meeting, but Gray holds off for a while.

Even though Ray seems destined to confront his father, there are plenty of mysteries that still hang in the air. What was in the message he sent back to SpaceCom? What are his feelings towards Roy? How will Roy react to seeing his father in the flesh for the first time in almost 30 years? Aside from these questions, Gray injects even more nervous energy in some of the spaceship sequences, bringing the danger of space travel to life.

2 Ad Astra's Visual Design Is Deeply Immersive

Ad Astra Is More Lifelike Than Most Sci-Fi Movies

Although Ad Astra is set far in the future, and it takes visual inspiration from sci-fi classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien and Star Wars, it has its own unique design. While some sci-fi movies present themselves as intentionally otherworldly and unknowable, Ad Astra feels authentic. For example, the lunar base looks like a train station or an airport, and there are no futurist leaps in the fashion design.

As well as creating a vision of the future that seems within our grasp, Ad Astra also creates an immersive atmosphere in other ways. James Gray uses lens flares and jolty camera movements on shots which could have been achieved with an abundance of CGI. This attention to detail makes everything feel weighty and urgent. Ad Astra is far more immersive and lifelike than most sci-fi movies, and other movies involving space travel.

1 Ad Astra May Suffer From Comparisons To Other Astronaut Movies Of The 2010s

Ad Astra Is Unlike Other Box Office Hits Of The Same Period

The 2010s saw a miniature boom in movies about astronauts. Following the immense box office success of Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity, a trend began to emerge in Hollywood. Interstellar, Hidden Figures, The Martian, High Life, Passengers and Life all followed. The commercial disappointment of Damien Chazelle's First Man was a big indication that the bubble had burst. Ad Astra came out a year later, and it suffered the same fate.

The glut of astronaut movies in the 2010s may have meant that audiences were burnt out on the genre, but Ad Astra also could have suffered when compared to these movies. It doesn't have the endless excitement of Gravity, the approachable humor of The Martian or the mind-bending non-linear trickery of Interstellar. Ad Astra doesn't fit neatly alongside other movies that came out around the same time. It's a unique gem that deserves to be appreciated on its own terms.