Ad Astra (2019)

For a film that's weird and not clear to understand for the story and the plot to where the film is leading to, for the last 30 minutes. Ad Astra is a film that's interesting but is weird in its own way. It keeps you guessing as to where the plot is going to next as it's unclear.

With the actors who are in the film, it stars Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland just to name a few, which are big stars to have in this film.

What is the film actually about? It's about a character called Roy who, I think, is looking for his Dad, who is unknown to be alive. To say the least, it's kinda like Fallout 3's plot but except it's a bit more weird, as well as being set in space. It's something that's unclear to follow for most of the film. It's one of those kinds of films where you have to focus on to understand the story I think. It does have these strange moments, it's something that makes you question what is happening.

The kind of the genre this film is going for, I think is perhaps a mystery kind of genre, as well as action I think. What this film definitely is though is that it’s definitely a sci-fi genre.

What I do like is how the main character is expressive with his facial expressions and body gesture, as it does help out with the film on how well the actor performs from beginning to end, as well as the other characters. If anything, I did enjoy some of the side characters, as well as some of the rooms and the environments.

What I can say that I don't like about this film, is maybe that it takes a while to get interesting. However, it's probably from my lack of understanding but I feel like it's a bit lackluster with most of the story, I feel like the character doesn't emerge in enjoying his adventure with what places he visits and that he more emerges in finding his Dad. It relies on that being the main focus of the story. I felt like it was a bit of a boring film.

I guess what I tend to find to be lackluster is maybe the main character Roy lacks personality? What goes on in the film does such as with some of the areas, it does look interesting, which is probably something I enjoyed seeing in the film. Though maybe that's because the film's plot isn't as clear to me either, as it wasn't straight forward. It probably takes time to figure out what's happening throughout the film.

What I do think is done well with the film is the score for the film as it does sound action-ish. But for how I think of the film, I don't think it stands a chance for me. Though I do think Nils Frahm did perform the soundtrack well for the film as it does sound great!

It's not a bad film as there is a plot there that could be enjoyed by others, as well with the visuals and the design that can be inspirational. It's just that I find that the story isn't as great as something like Alien or Guardian of the Galaxy, as those film energies in its world and explores it, as well as development with the characters. That's probably something else that's probably missing here from this film.

I find that it takes itself more seriously without being interesting. I don't think it takes the time to explain what lore it has or what's in its world, such as the monkey on the ship or why the other people attacked? It feels bland. I feel like something needed to be there than just the story telling. It's something that I find that needs to be more clear.

It's not a cheerful story, which isn't anything wrong, as Alien was like that. It's a film that does an okay job with its storytelling. I just think there needs to be more exploration. Though again, maybe that's because I did not understand the story well and it was confusing for me. Though it could be because I'm not the right audience to be aimed at with this film. Or maybe it's a film where it needs to be watched multiple times to better understand it. It's a mystery to me what Ad Astra is.

What I saw while I was researching Ad Astra, it’s a well received film that most people enjoyed, which had been nominated for an Oscar award, as well as other nominations, being a total of 77. If anything, I think that says that the film was well liked. If anything that makes me think of anything more, it does make me think that maybe that I wasn’t the right kind of audience to watch this film, where I think it’s more aimed at a mid-aged or older audience than for the teenage and for the young adults.

For me, I give this film a 3 star rating as I feel like this film could be done with improvement in some areas rather than just relying heavily on the storytelling. Though I do also think that it's not the worst film I've seen either as the visuals are great! Just wasn’t as great as I think that this film could be used more time to maybe be developed with personality as well. I wouldn’t recommend not watching this film entirely, as there's something that’s probably something good in the film that I missed or didn’t understand myself.