When “The Lost City Of Z” director James Gray announced his latest film “Ad Astra” at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, he made the bold declaration that it would be “the most realistic depiction of space travel that’s been put in a movie and to basically say, ‘Space is awfully hostile to us.'” While it is unclear if he succeeded in that regard, the feature is lined with an all-star cast and stunning visuals. The movie, on paper, seems idyllic. Its science fiction story does its best to depict a realistic version of space and space travel with incredible technical skill and stunning effects, but it fails to make an emotional connection.
In the “near future,” Major Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) works for the United States Space Command. After a series of electric surges begin threatening Earth’s solar system, he is called to a meeting with the brass. There he learns that his thought-dead father, famous astronaut Commander H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones) may be alive. It is thought the “Project Lima” mission he vanished on sixteen years ago may have something to do with the surges since they are originating from Neptune, where his father’s team vanished in an attempt to contact extraterrestrials.
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