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AD ASTRA (film) : Fantastic effects in a movie that really drags (NO SPOILERS)

Review by @gooddream · 2473d · of Ad Astra

One of the luxuries of living where I do in the world is the fact that it is possible for me to see every movie that gets released in a wonderful theater for as little as $2.50. Today was the first day Ad Astra was in the theaters and I got primo seats in a damn-near empty IMAX theater for $6. I don't know what films cost in the West these day, but it is certainly more than this.

I'm going to be very vague in what I say here because there is nothing worse than having a movie spoiled - you remember about how that guy was hospitalized for spoiling Endgame in China, right?

adastraposter2.jpg source

Anyway, the movie was visually spectacular (as you would expect from a film with a $100 million budget) but I nearly walked out of the theater because i was nodding off (and I slept in until nearly 11 today.) The film starts out very strong and you are on the edge of your seat but then the "talk talk talk talk talk" begins and lasts for the next 40 minutes or so.

There are no bad actors in this movie, well I suppose that depends on whether or not you think Brad Pitt, Donald Sutherland, Liv Tyler, and Tommy-Lee Jones are accomplished actors... I know that I do. It's also worth noting that Jamie Kennedy is in this movie (albeit briefly) and I thought it was nice to give this guy a shot at something besides silly comedy for once.

adastra-bradpitt-spacestation-outside-700x303.jpg source

I am a huge fan of science-fiction and I think I may actually appreciate somewhat realistic science fiction even more. This is kind of what Ad Astra is trying to be, although since it is set in the "near future" there are some deviations from what we now know to be possible such as how long it would take to travel from Earth to the outer gas giants. In the film this is resembled as less than 100 days when in reality it would take over a decade (with current combustible fuels as a method of propulsion.) This is not addressed in the film and based on how much damn talking there is already, I guess I'm kind of happy about that.

G3EAJX7ziwcL6eATKDsqjg.jpg source

The scenes that take place on the moon (not a spoiler, it's in the trailer) are particularly visually appealing and I can't even imagine what the location scout had to go through to make this happen. I mean obviously a lot of this is CGI but not all of it is. There is also a fun message about how humans destroy any environment they get to as the arrival station on the moon is filled with cheesy photo ops and fast-food restaurants galore.

from [Fox's official channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2-BeLxzUBSs0uSrmzWhJuQ)

Now, i don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but for the most part I found this movie to be really boring. At one point my friend left the theater to go to the bathroom and asked me what had happened for the 10 minutes he was gone and my answer was "not much" ... and that is not even an exaggeration. If you have really been looking forward to this film I would say go ahead and go see it. However, if you were kinda "meh" about whether or not you were going to shell out $20 (or whatever it costs to see a film in USA or wherever you are) I would say, wait for this one to hit Netflix.

My basic gauge of judging a film is "if i feel sleepy in an IMAX theater" something about the film is terribly wrong.

I felt sleepy during this one.

Comments · 3

  • @metametheus(66)· 2473d

    I saw this yesterday and loved it.

    But I am an old school lover of SF literature... and this movie was old school.

    The drive to get the job done by his own drive to confront his demons about his dad.... this movie is about psychology, not science and engineering. It’s about what makes us human, what makes us tick, and those little bits that fuck us up but actually fuel our achievements.

    It reminded me of something like Heart of Darkness in a way.... the madness of isolation forcing one to face what lies in their subconsciousness...

    😊🙏🏽☯️

    Posted using Partiko iOS

  • @loreshapergames(67)· 2473d

    Man, I keep seeing film studios do this to the point where I'm just about done going to movies unless there's some special discount, and I used to work at a theater. How hard is it to realize that good CGI does not make a good film?

    There's a secret to storytelling, and it's that you tell a story. We always talk about "show, don't tell" in writing classes, but the reason for that is because people tend to over-simplify and skip the really important bits when they're talking.

    If your story isn't up to the same level eye candy, you may as well release a desktop wallpaper. It needs to have some actual action. Tension, drama, action! I think of Blade Runner as an example of a film that does this well despite seeming not to at first; it's slow, but it's slow to stress impotence and the magnitude of events around the protagonist.

    You can go fast or go slow, but if you don't deliver a story you aren't going to have anything once you're done.

  • @bozz(83)· 2473d

    This looks like a really good movie. I am excited to maybe see it someday. The cast sounds pretty fantastic. I have seen Kennedy in a couple of serious roles and he has always impressed me. I really wanted to see Interstellar when it came out, but I still haven't gotten around to it. I also like the idea that it is somewhat realistic scifi like The Martian was. Nice review!