It’s another case of a huge discrepancy between critics’ and audiences’ opinions of a movie. And this time, that wide gap had a star-studded sci-fi flick with a 43% difference in scores at the center of it. Critics lauded the film as ambitious and visually stunning, rating it 83%, while casual viewers considered it slow and confusing, giving it a paltry 40%—a hard hit given the hefty budget behind it. Despite that big ratings gap, it’s now streaming for free on Tubi and is definitely worth watching.
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The film in question? Ad Astra, starring Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Liv Tyler, and Donald Sutherland. The movie follows an astronaut named Roy McBride, who, after living through a tragic and traumatic experience in space, is informed that his father, also a world-renowned astronaut, is not dead, like he’d believed for the last 16 years. Now Roy must undertake a perilous journey across the vast expanse of space to get to Neptune, uncovering the truth about his missing father and the mysterious power surge that threatens the stability of the universe.
What Caused the Review Rift?
Audiences found that Ad Astra dragged, lacking any genuine action that would have pushed it forward, and that’s come to be expected from sci-fi movies. “This movie was a slog. It starts out with the best scene in the film. The opening is visually incredible and intense (very cool depiction of a space elevator). The rest of the movie only has two things going for it: the visuals and cinematography are excellent, and Brad Pitt gives an incredible performance. But that can’t save this movie from itself,” said one viewer. Others referred to it as monotonous, dragging, and slow. To be sure, it has incredibly bleak moments, but that’s very much the point—there are parts to life, and our place in the universe that are bleak, but the ending reminds viewers to find the beauty beyond that.
“Ad Astra showcases the struggle of looking into the abyss and explores how Roy’s father succumbed to it, and if Roy will suffer that same fate. This is where Ad Astra finds its strength,” says critic Jeffrey Harris of 411Mania, summing the film up perfectly. And the film’s commentary on the abyss is as much about the void of space as it is about the ones that we create in our own lives, holding others away and striving for ambition and perfection above personal progress and growth. It’s not a perfect movie, by any means. But this time, we have to give the critics a break, because it’s a great film.
What are your thoughts on Ad Astra? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to swing by the ComicBook forum to see what other fans are saying.
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