At its core, the story of Ad Astra is simple: It’s a story of about a man trying to not be his father. It’s a something that resonates with all of us. Many of us spend our lives desperately trying to escape not only the shadow of our parents but any deep-seated scars left from our upbringing. Ad Astra takes that emotional baggage and sets it in an a visually stunning, not-so-distant future in space. Astronaut Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) is sent on a mission to make contact with his father, Clifford McBride(Tommy Lee Jones), after the experiments by the doomed expedition that Clifford disappeared on 30 years ago threatened the human race. Roy' calm, collected and controlled life is upended as he’s forced to confront not only the reality that his father is alive but the complex, buried emotions he has about his father.
There is an unusually brisk pace to Ad Astra, particularly for the type of film it is. While the story is clearly focused on being a character study of Roy McBride, the vis
