Ad Astra (Latin for “To the Stars”) is a 2019 American psychological science fiction drama film produced, co-written, and directed by James Gray. Starring Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, and Donald Sutherland, it follows an astronaut who ventures into space in search of his lost father, whose experiment threatens the solar system.
The project was announced in early 2016, with Gray saying he wanted to feature “the most realistic depiction of space travel that’s been put in a movie”. Pitt signed on to star in April 2017 and the rest of the cast joined later that year. Filming began around Los Angeles that August, lasting through October.
Ad Astra premiered at the Venice Film Festival on August 29, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on September 20, 2019 by 20th Century Fox. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for Pitt’s performance, Gray’s direction, visual effects, and the cinematography. However, the film was a box office bomb, grossing $135 million worldwide against an $80–100 million budget. At the 92nd Academy Awards the film was nominated for Best Sound Mixing.
Plot
In the late 21st century, the solar system is being struck by mysterious power surges, threatening all human life. Major Roy McBride, son of astronaut H. Clifford McBride, believed dead, is informed by U.S. Space Command (SpaceCom) that the surges have been traced to the “Lima Project”, created 29 years earlier to search the galaxy for intelligent life, under Clifford’s leadership. Nothing has been heard from the Lima crew since reaching Neptune 16 years ago. Told his father may be alive, Roy agrees to travel to Mars from where he can attempt to establish communication with him. Roy is joined by Colonel Pruitt, his father’s old associate. Roy, acclaimed for his ability to remain calm under extreme pressure, shows little emotional reaction to his father possibly being alive.
Arriving on the Moon, Roy and Pruitt are then escorted by U.S. military personnel to the SpaceCom base, located in a disputed war zone on the Moon’s far side. En route in lunar rovers, scavenger pirates ambush them and kill the escorts. Roy and Pruitt make it to the base, but Pruitt suffers cardiac problems and remains behind. He gives Roy a classified message stating that if Roy fails to contact his father, then the Lima Project station will have to be destroyed. As Roy travels to Mars aboard Cepheus, a distress signal is received from a Norwegian biomedical research space station. Captain Tanner insists they must investigate, overriding Roy’s protests that the mission takes precedence and other ships can respond. The station appears to be abandoned. Tanner and Roy split up to investigate; Roy discovers an escaped baboon attacking Tanner. Roy kills it and then another baboon. Tanner dies from his injuries, but Roy shows little emotion. In a psychological evaluation, he admits to experiencing rage and recalls his father expressing his own rage.
Another surge hits as the Cepheus is attempting to land on Mars. Roy assumes command and calmly lands the ship after the co-pilot is overcome with fear. In the underground SpaceCom base, Roy meets facility director Helen Lantos. He is tasked with recording voice messages to send to the Lima Project in hopes that Clifford will respond. After receiving no response from their first message, the crew sends another, during which Roy goes off-script with an emotional appeal to his father. Clifford responds though Roy is prevented from hearing the message. SpaceCom plans a mission to the Lima Project station, but refuse to allow Roy to participate, believing his personal connection poses a risk. Roy’s demand to hear the response is ignored, and he is summarily removed to a “comfort room.”
While sequestered, Roy is visited by Lantos, who reveals that both her parents were Lima Project team members. She shows Roy classified footage revealing that Clifford’s team mutinied and attempted to return to Earth, causing him to shut off their life-support systems; her parents were among those killed. She tells Roy that the Cepheus will go to the Lima Project station to destroy it with a nuclear payload. The two decide that Roy should confront Clifford, and Lantos helps Roy access the rocket launch site.
Roy climbs aboard as the rocket takes off and is immediately discovered by the crew, who are instructed to neutralize him. The entire crew is unintentionally killed in the ensuing confrontation. During the 79-day journey to Neptune (at ~0.2% light speed), a solitary Roy reflects on his relationship with his father, and also his estranged wife, Eve. The mission’s isolation and stress take a mental toll. While approaching the Lima Project station in a shuttle attached to the Cepheus, the shuttle is damaged in a collision with objects in Neptune’s rings during another surge and unable to dock with the station. Roy enters the station via a spacewalk while the shuttle drifts away. Finding the crew’s dead bodies inside, he plants the nuclear payload before encountering Clifford, the station’s sole survivor. Clifford explains that the surges are coming from the ship’s malfunctioning antimatter power source, which was damaged in the mutiny. Clifford has continued to work on the project, refusing to lose faith in the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life. Clifford admits to Roy that he never really cared about his family and no longer considers Earth his home.
Roy copies data gathered by the Lima Project team and persuades Clifford to accompany him back to Earth. He arms the nuclear payload, and they climb out on the station’s outer hull to return to the Cepheus. Clifford suddenly launches them into space using his spacesuit’s thrusters. Clifford pleads for Roy to un-tether him; Roy reluctantly does and watches his father drift away into space. He propels himself back to the Cepheus using his own spacesuit. Without enough fuel, Roy relies on the shock wave from the nuclear explosion in the station to gain the required speed.
The data retrieved from the Lima Project base suggest that humans are the only intelligent life in the galaxy. Roy is inspired to reconnect with those closest to him, and he returns to Earth with a newfound optimism. After expressing his opinions in a psychological evaluation, he reconnects with his wife, Eve.
Cast
Brad Pitt as Roy McBride, a major in U.S. Space Command
Tommy Lee Jones as H. Clifford McBride, Roy’s father, and the Commander of the missing Lima Project
Ruth Negga as Helen Lantos
Liv Tyler as Eve, Roy’s wife
Donald Sutherland as Colonel Thomas Pruitt
John Ortiz as Lieutenant General Rivas
Greg Bryk as Chip Garnes
Loren Dean as Donald Stanford
Natasha Lyonne as Tanya Pincus
John Finn as Brigadier General Stroud
Kimberly Elise as Lorraine Deavers
Sean Blakemore as Willie Levant
Bobby Nish as Franklin Yoshida
LisaGay Hamilton as Adjutant General Amelia Vogel
Donnie Keshawarz as Captain Lawrence Tanner
Reviews
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