When mystery energy surges coming from Neptune threaten to wipe out all of mankind, Roy McBride (Brad Pitt), an astronaut, agrees to travel through space to Neptune on a top secret mission to save planet Earth from destructing. In turn, he might also save H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones), his father, who may or mot not still be alive alone in a spacecraft on Neptune after he went missing while working the Lima Project.

     Ad Astra boasts mesmerizing visuals and a convincingly moving performance by Brad Pitt which compensate for the screenplay's shortcomings. Writer/director James Gray and co-writer Ethan rely on too much narration that spoon-feeds the audience and doesn't trust the their emotions nor their intelligence enough. If 2001 were made for modern times without room for interpretation, it would look something like Ad Astra. Perhaps the filmmakers were afraid to confuse the audience too much which would mean taking risks. There's one confusing scene, though, with involving a killer monkey that feels uneven because it shows too much gore and there's not enough exposition that makes it clear why the monkey is behaving in such a way. Maybe it's one of the monkeys from another Brad Pitt vehicle, 12 Monkeys. At least the filmmakers trust the audience's patience, though, because the pacing is mostly a slow burn except for the thrilling opening scene and an action sequence on the moon. The scenes that work best are the ones when Roy speaks candidly about his feelings to an app that serves as his psychologist. You learn a lot about his relationship with his father as he recalls moments from his past. It's the bond between father and son that represents the heart of the film and helps Roy's journey to be not only a physical one, but also en emotional one. However, the parent-child relationship isn't as moving is it is in the superior sci-fi films, Contact and Interstellar.

     Unfortunately, Ad Astra forgets to treat its supporting characters like human beings. They're just there to move the plot forward. In fact, when Colonel Tom Pruitt (Donald Sutherland) first shows up, he introduces himself in a contrived why by explaining that he's there to assist Roy before even providing Roy with his name. That's a very stilted way to introduce a character to the audience. There aren't enough scenes, though with Roy's wife (Liv Tyler), Eve, so their relationship doesn't feel as real or poignant as it should have been, and the beats don't quite land during the brief scenes with her. Ruth Negga briefly shows up too as Helen Lantos who states rather explicitly how she empathizes with Roy because of their similarly traumatic past. Blink and you'll Natasha Lyone is a cameo that's almost as funny as the cameo of Charlie Sheen in Being John Malkovich. Comic relief is also an element that Ad Astra struggles with because there's not nearly enough of it nor does the dialogue have much in terms of wit. The filmmakers are very lucky to have Pitt as their star because he's as charismatic and talented as actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood.