Very much just a meh movie.

In short... good, not great, hated the voice over, but LOVED the ending.

Before I get into spoilers I'll say that, despite not being over the moon for it (no pun intended), I truly do not understand being bored by this movie. I guess I get wanting maybe a bit more action (though I don't know what that action would have been), but I was never even remotely bored by the story. I saw this with six other people and not one of them were bored either. A couple shoulder shrugs among my group in the lobby after, sure, but everyone I saw it with - and the theater itself, seemingly - was at least engaged through the every end. I don't mean this in a snarky way - I'm literally asking - but what were some of you were expecting? What about the trailers painted this as something more action-heavy than what we got? Because to me, it was fairly apparent from day one that this was ultimately a Brad Pitt solo mission, and I don't understand where more action beats could have even come from without this turning into Battlestar Galactica or Star Wars. I honestly thought James Gray (the director) milked all the action he possibly could from this.

In fact, that was one of my issues with it - that Grey obviously knew he needed to get Pitt from point A to B to C to D to E, and I actually loved the progression/planet-hopping of it all, but it *did* play a bit like he then came up with the obstacles between those points after the fact. It was kind of like, "Uhhh, let's go with... space pirates here! And then we'll have some, uhhh... space MONKEYS! Perfect!" I actually really enjoyed both of those scenarios quite a bit, and for what they were, thought they were executed extremely well. But I do admit that I wish the movie had more of an active antagonist, one constantly trying to thwart Pitt, rather than a series of somewhat random obstacles for him overcome.

All that said, I loved, loved, loved the way everything was wrapped up thematically. Pitt's line to his dad - "We're all we've got." - landed in just the right way for me. Every other space film of this ilk ultimately goes for some kind of hint of alien contact, if not contact itself. So it was incredibly refreshing to see that turned on its head here and the message simply being, in so many words, "The contact we seek is right in front of us." (and this is coming from someone obsessed with all things UFOs, who hopes/knows we're not alone).

But man, again... I just wish we could have gotten to that ending without all the heavy-handed, mind-numbing voice over. I hate voice over so, so much. It can be such a crutch. It rarely ever truly adds to the story, and if your story absolutely needs it, then you're telling your story wrong. Character should be defined through ACTION. Characters should NOT be defined by... telling us exactly what they're thinking/feeling over and over and over again. Rumor has it there was an initial cut without the voice over and I'd be so curious to see how that version played.

Ultimately, though, this was a beautiful movie with some truly cool sequences and a ton of evocative imagery/scenarios. I wish we had spent a little more time on Earth in the beginning - I needed to feel the peril of The Surge a bit more - I wish a couple of the obstacles had been a bit more organic, and the voice over nearly killed certain parts of it for me, but otherwise, this was a damn good effort and something I'll definitely watch again on cable.

I agree with you Tc. I honestly expected some eye rolling deus ex machina aliens showing up at the last second to save them or even getting a signal after 30 years right when Pitt shows up. I thought it was hauntingly beautiful when Pitt delivered that line because it forces the audience to consider the people around them. It was especially tragic because both men focused externally and failed in their relationships to others that caused so much destructive behavior in themselves.

] The message is stop with the bull**** and fix what's right in front of you. Also surprised at how spiritual the film was, was not expecting the prayer scene at all but I really appreciated. I don't need to see it again but I am glad I did.

Also the random subway shop on the moon. Theater was dead silent and then I busted out laughing.

Really liked it, but as someone else said, probably one I'll only watch once. The score and visuals were all fantastic. I had one major eye-roll that my wife and I shared launching yourself accurately across space, through rings and still ending up hitting your ship.

Otherwise, decent film

I watched this one yesterday, and cam out of it thinking it was good not great. But, the more I sit on it, reflect on it, and even read y'all's comments, the more I'm moving this to the great territory.

I avoided all trailers and previews, but did hear/read that it was more meditative than action, which helped me set into it a bit. If anything, at first I thought - sorta in line with TC - that there was too much action. The action scenes, while profoundly cool given their physics, felt out of place and unrelated to the character growth and plot. But, in the connection to Heart of Darkness, there's a descent in evolution of each existential threat to Pitt's character: first being a technological threat - this sort of apex of evolution with a space antenna (should have been a space-elevator, but minor quibble) failing; then space piracy as a step down in evolution to a more primitive near-anarchistic threat; then a literal primal threat from the space monkeys; to a mindless drone-like threat from the three crew members on the Aephus.

The father-son themes were particularly poignant to me, and even though they were transparent, there was more below the surface. This idea of trying to be a better version of your father without truly examining his fallacies, but then, when confronted with the truth of his errors, growing not just further than him, but beyond the boundaries of this image of your father. Although nearly impossible to portray a father/son conflict without Christian allegories, the stand in of that relationship to that of Christ and God, and the questions and theories it brought up, was even more touching to me - which was perhaps my biggest surprise of the movie as an agnostic Jew: maybe this is an obvious thinking in Christianity, maybe its heretical, but the concept of the son atoning not for the sins of his peers, but for the sins of his father really opened my eyes to how you can reconcile the god of the Old Testament with the god of the New Testament (not to mention that the father than sacrificed himself to allow for the son to go forth unburdened). Jones' character, like the OG god, was literally causing catastrophes on Earth because some people didn't follow his command, and it was his son which had to speak to him and fix the danger.

Agreed with others about the voice over (and the title card explaining Ad Astra) and that it felt more of a producer's hand rather than the director's original intent, but despite, and given all the layering of themes, this is a movie I want to watch again (at home) to try and unpack more (or see if all my thoughts are just bull****).