Spoilers ahead!

I finally watched Ad Astra, and it was a bit disappointing. It wasn’t a bad movie, I just expected way more. I’m generally a sucker for sci-fi, and other space operas. I go into movies like this with sometimes absurdly high expectations. This movie had a ton of potential, and even a nice build up for what could’ve been. Instead, you end up with a really uneventful climax and an even lackluster conclusion. The movie does look pretty, the cinematography was great, the sound mix is nice, but it was kind of a letdown in the end.

The characters were solid, but the development was lacking. There were many characters in that movie I would’ve liked to get to know better before the story events kill them off, and they get killed off pretty quickly. It quickly turns into a generic “all alone in the universe” sort of deal. There were some elements of terror that would’ve been great for them to delve into more, like the experimental monkeys gone mad on one of the ships.

Of course when Roy finds his dad, he turns out to be simply a crazy man that will stop at nothing to find extraterrestrial life, even at the cost of killing a bunch of his shipmates.

The ending was pretty uneventful. This guy didn’t have to answer for breaching a ship, or the fact that an entire crew got killed as the result of his actions? He goes home to his wife, and everything is magically right with the world? There’s literally nothing believable about how this movie needed.

Overall Ad Astra was just okay. There were many things this movie could’ve been, and it fell short of every mark. It wasn’t bad, just disappointing. I expected better, perhaps I expected way too much.

6/10

 

Flemmings Beaubrun is an avid gamer and lover of music. When not working, Flemmings likes to spend his time whipping up dank beats for the masses. He also spends his weekends thrift shopping for rare video games and obscure electronics. Other times he’s in front of a TV with a giant bowl of cereal enjoying shows from the 90s.