Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

Ad Astra 

This film is visually gorgeous but story wise very poorly done. I really wanted to like this film but I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. But don’t get me wrong it’s not a bad film by any means it just has some glaring flaws that for me was hard to overlook. This film had me think very hard of when it was over of what I thought of it as i enjoyed a great amount of things in this film but on the other hand their are major issues I had with it. 

First off, This film is visually gorgeous to look at. The Cinematography and the visual aspect of the film is spectacularly well shot as it looks like a painting the technical aspects brought to this film is outstanding and despite the issues I had the film blew me away with the cinematography and especially the sound. As the sound editing on this was incredible it was creatively and uniquely done in a way I hadn’t seen space films done before this. The sound editing and mixing in this film is so well done and everyone who worked on the film should be applauded for their amazing work on bringing this film to the screen it is absolutely a technical amazement that most definitely elevates what is a very mediocre story. 

Secondly, On the side of Brad Pitt he does a good job with the material he’s given he for 85% of the film is narrating the film and besides that their isn’t much talking he’s the soul character he care for their really isn’t any secondary characters you become invested in. The only other minor character that has some onscreen moments is Donald Sutherland Sutherland but even his role is very brief so for two hours we’re following Brads character with very minimal things to grasp onto. As the film fleshes out this father rescue mission but that’s the entire story sure it’s straight forward and if done well straight forward stories work amazingly well but where this film goes wrong is it’s unable to flesh out or explain some of the things that needed more context for me to stay invested in the story. As this film is very self indulgent at times showing how marvellous it’s all shot and how beautiful each frame is but they don’t take a full grasp of the story at hand. I was invested into the story but it does become very messy narrative wise by the second half of the film as I feel this film would of benefited from being a bit longer as the story did feel very condensed and not enough was explained as when the film ended I had more questions then answers. It is a slow burn and I think people should know that before they go see this film as if you don’t like films that go at a slow pace you may not have a liking to this film as it is in no way a fast paced space film. Their we’re times I was bored as the story wasn’t engaging me by the last half and like I said it didn’t explain a lot of things it should have so I did find myself wanting it to end as I was bored by the last half which is unfortunate because I did enjoy it the problem came down to the story and how it was executed. It lacked depth on every front it felt very hollow as it didn’t dig deep enough in the father son relationship like they mention how Brads father in the story is a legend but if they showed more deeper emotional aspects of that arc I would of cared more for the story for sure. 

Lastly, This film made me feel a mix of emotions as I had a handful of problems with it from a narrative stand point as if it had tweaked a bit of the script it would of been a lot better. But on the other hand I did love the beautiful visual aspect this film brought to the screen as well as a good performance from Brad Pitt. So I’ll say Ad Astra is a visually stunning film with massive flaws but I still recommend people go check this film out. 

This film centres on an astronaut that is assigned a mission to find his father whom he thought was dead but is still alive somewhere in space 

Rated PG - 13 : for some violence and bloody images, and for brief strong language

Brad Pitt : Brad gives a emotionally reserved performance! Brad Pitt has been having a great year with his recent hit with Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and now this film. Here he plays an astronaut who’s father is a massive legend to space exploration and in many ways lives under the shadow of him. But what is so interesting about his approach to the character is the subtlety of his performance as he isn’t a very talkative person he’s very reserved and kept to himself. He takes psychological evaluations to keep himself sharp and so the entire film essentially consists of him speaking inside his head and we hear his inner thoughts and what’s so great about that approach to the character is that we hear what he’s feeling but don’t see it shown that much on his face. What I mean is their will be moments where he talks about how he should of been tender instead of lashing out and their very well delivered moments by Brad but after we hear him say all this you’ll see his face in a utter emotionless state as he spills his inner feelings keeping them inside but rarely showing a ounce of emotion to anyone he comes across and I find that so fascinating from a character point of view but performance wise Brad was spectacular as this is a kind of performance I hadn’t seen him show before he’s never done a character with such inner thoughts that never expresses them and it takes very strong emotional strength to be able to pull that off performance wise as it’s a very complex character and Brad does such a great job at delivering and bringing this character to life onscreen by being so subtle. It’s a role we had not seen Brad explore before and it’s terrific another solid performance once again from Brad. 

James Gray : James Gray gives a interesting take on the Space exploration genre! James Gray impressed me a few years back with his solid work on the film the Lost City Of Z and really got my attention as I thought his style was very unique and interesting and here he plunges to the depths of space with Ad Astra. James Gray made me feel mixed feelings to his approach to this film as he captures the sheer visual beauty that is truly breathtaking to watch but at the same time it doesn’t excuse the poor execution in terms of storytelling that he did. The film felt very satisfying in terms of visuals but fell flat in terms of a story as I was invested into the character despite their being hardly anyone else in the film to invest in besides The lead character and I was very into the film for the first half but by the second half it kind of lost my interest as i feel James didn’t delve deep enough into the character and the story for me to care by the end of the film and that’s the issue I had most with him that he was more caring about the look of the film rather then the story it was very much style over substance not at all calling it a bad film by any means but a film that could of been a lot better if James had had a bit more depth and explanation to some of the things in the film as I wanted to really like this film as James creates this amazing look and feel to the frame it’s just the visual spectacle wasn’t enough to save the Mediocre story James you did a good job but with a few adjustments it could of been better. 

The Cinematography : The look of this film is incredible! The scenes in space are truly beautiful to watch as the camera found such unique and different ways to showcase its surroundings by placing the camera in interesting places and capturing the sheer scope of space in such dazzling beauty it really is the best aspect of the film is the technical achievements this film accomplishes and it did a great job at capturing the emotion and feel of the scene through its Truly magnificent camera work.