Ad Astra (film)

In the early 22nd century, mysterious cosmic ray-bursts emanating from Neptune cause power surges that threaten to destroy all life in the Solar System. Major Roy McBride is informed that the surge is antimatter in origin and may be connected to the "Lima Project", a space station in orbit around Neptune, sent twenty-nine years earlier to search for intelligent life and fuelled by antimatter. Roy's father, Clifford McBride, was the project's leader, a man considered a hero in SpaceCom history. Contact was lost sixteen years into its mission. Roy agrees to travel to Mars to use the last active long-range communications station unaffected by the bursts in an effort to contact Clifford aboard the "Lima". At the Moon SpaceCom base, Roy is told in secret by Colonel Pruitt that should he fail to make contact with the "Lima Project", the station will have to be destroyed. Roy obtains passage to Mars on the SpaceCom cruiser Cepheus. On the way to Mars the Cepheus attend a distress call from a research station. During the investigation the captain is killed. The ship continues to Mars but is hit by a surge as it attempts to land. Roy assumes command from the overwhelmed (now in charge) first officer and calmly lands the ship. After securing himself in the underground SpaceCom complex, Roy begins recording officially pre-written voice messages and transmitting them to the Lima Project in hopes that his father, Clifford, will respond. Following several failed attempts, Roy ends up ignoring the official message and sends a personal message to his father stating that he hopes he will see him one day. Roy is then told he will be returning to Earth as his 'personal connection' makes him unsuitable for further service. Roy is visited by facility director Helen Lantos, who reveals that her parents were Lima Project team members. She shows him classified footage revealing that Clifford's team mutinied and attempted to return to Earth, causing him to shut off their life-support systems; her parents were among those killed. She also states that the Cepheus is carrying a nuclear weapon and has now been requisitioned for a secret 'seek and destroy' mission without Roy. Seeing that the 'hero' story was fabricated to hide the truth, Roy decides that he should deal with his father. Lantos facilitates Roy getting to the rocket as it prepares to depart. Roy climbs aboard as the rocket takes off and is immediately discovered by the crew, who are unintentionally killed in the confrontation. During the 79-day journey to Neptune, a solitary Roy reflects on his relationship with his father and with his estranged wife, Eve. He finally arrives at the station and plants the nuclear bomb before encountering Clifford, the sole survivor of the Lima Project. Clifford explains that the surges are coming from an antimatter meltdown caused by the mutiny. He also admits to Roy that he never really cared about his family and does not consider Earth his home. Yet despite his efforts, the Lima Project found no other life in the entire knowable universe. Roy copies data gathered about numerous planets by the Lima Project team and persuades Clifford to accompany him back to Earth. He arms the bomb and they climb out on the station's outer hull to return to the Cepheus. Clifford suddenly launches them into space using his spacesuit's thrusters. The old man pleads for Roy to untether and leave him; Roy reluctantly does so and watches his father drift away into space. He propels himself back to the Cepheus using his own spacesuit. Roy sends a message back to SpaceCom to ensure that if his return journey should fail, SpaceCom would make every effort to retrieve the data he has recovered from the Lima Project. Roy uses the shock wave from the nuclear explosion from the station as his primary propellent to propel the Cepheus back towards Earth. Despite finding no signs of other life, the data from the Lima Project contains a treasure trove of information on many 'magnificent' worlds. Roy is entranced by their beauty and wonder, something that was lost on his father. He returns to Earth with a newfound optimism he was previously lacking, meeting with his estranged wife again. ==Cast==

Development Director and co-writer James Gray had originally met co-writer Ethan Gross while attending the USC School of Cinematic Arts together in the late 1980s. In June 2007, Gross contacted Gray, pitching the idea of a sci-fi film inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). The two worked on the story intermittently, referring to it initially as Lima Project. On February 21, 2013, Gray and Gross would pitch the concept to producers Rodrigo Teixeira and Sophie Mas of RT Pictures at Babbo, an Italian restaurant in Manhattan. After Teixeira and Mas agreed to finance the screenwriting process, Gray and Gross would submit several drafts between November 29, 2013, and May 22, 2015, partly to solicit feedback from producers and colleagues: some of the changes made in this period included changing the character of John Gates, a father figure to main character Roy McBride, to Roy's actual father, before further rewriting the story so that the father was killed while in a cryogenic state, rather than in an active confrontation in earlier drafts. In addition, the story had originally been set on Saturn, but the release of Interstellar (2014) caused the setting to be moved to Neptune to draw more of a distinction between the two films. Gray first confirmed his plans to write and direct Ad Astra on May12, 2016, during the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Six months later, Gray would consult theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss to assist in improving the film's scientific accuracy: one major change that resulted from this was the removal of a plot point regarding antimatter being found on Neptune. Casting In August 2016, while Gray was screening The Lost City of Z to producer Brad Pitt, the former had a conversation with the latter to discuss Ad Astra. Pitt expressed interest and agreed to both star in and co-produce the film; In August, Ruth Negga, John Finn, and Donald Sutherland joined the cast. Filming Principal photography on the film began on August 10, 2017 in Santa Clarita, California, lasting 60 days. After initial post-production work, test screenings were held on May 30 and July 18, 2018; Gray did not have control over the film's final cut, which he told The Hollywood Reporter was "as painful a thing as I have experienced outside the death of a loved one." The visual effects were by Moving Picture Company, Method Studios, Mr. X, Weta Digital, Brainstorm Digital, and Capital T, and supervised by Allen Maris, Christopher Downs, Guillaume Rocheron, Ryan Tudhope, Aidan Fraser, Olaf Wendt, Anders Langlands, Eran Dinur, Jamie Hallett, and Territory Studio. Max Richter composed the film's score and recorded it at AIR Studios in London. Additionally, Lorne Balfe was asked to write additional music for the score. The orchestra and choir were then recorded at Synchron Stage Vienna. James Gray consulted with experimental film scholars Gregory Zinman and Leo Goldsmith for inspiration on the visuals. The film's post-production was completed August 7, 2019, when Pitt recorded the rewritten voice-over dialogue. Music The film's soundtrack was composed by Max Richter with additional music contributed by Lorne Balfe and Nils Frahm. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. ==Release==

Theatrical astronauts in a teleconference at NASA Headquarters Space Operations Center about the film's release Ad Astra had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on August29, 2019. and was released in the United States on September20, 2019, by 20th Century Fox. The film received an early release in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France on September 18. It had previously been scheduled for January11, 2019, and then for May24 before being pushed back. Home media Ad Astra was released on digital and Movies Anywhere by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on December3, 2019, with Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, and DVD releases following on December17. ==Reception==

Box office Ad Astra grossed $50.2million in the United States and Canada and $85million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $135.2million, against an estimated production budget of $80million. The film made $7.2million on its first day, including $1.5million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $19million, finishing second behind Downton Abbey. The opening was compared to First Man (2018), another drama involving outer space which received high praise from critics but a lukewarm audience reception, resulting in a muted box office turnout despite its cast and budget. Deadline Hollywood deduced the film would lose $30million off a projected $150million final worldwide gross (a figure it would ultimately fall short of). The film made $10.1million in its second weekend and $4.4million in its third, finishing fifth and sixth, respectively. Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "Ad Astra takes a visually thrilling journey through the vast reaches of space while charting an ambitious course for the heart of the bond between parent and child." On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film has a score of 80 out of 100, based on 56 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B–" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it an average 2.5 out of 5 stars, with 40% saying they would definitely recommend it. David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film an "A" and said, "Ad Astra is one of the most ruminative, withdrawn, and curiously optimistic space epics this side of Solaris. It's also one of the best." Similarly, Xan Brooks of The Guardian gave the film five out of five stars, called it a "superb space-opera", and praised Pitt's performance, saying, "Pitt embodies McBride with a series of deft gestures and a minimum of fuss. His performance is so understated it hardly looks like acting at all." Variety critic Owen Gleiberman praised Pitt's performance, explaining, "Gray proves beyond measure that he's got the chops to make a movie like this. He also has a vision, of sortsone that's expressed, nearly inadvertently, in the metaphor of that space antenna." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone rated the film four out of five stars and referred to it as "absolutely enthralling" and praised Gray for his direction and his unique approach to the science fiction genre, as well as the cinematography and Pitt's performance (whom he referred to as "marvel of nuanced feeling"). He also drew comparisons of the film's tone and themes to other notable films set in space, particularly 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Solaris (1972), Gravity (2013), and Interstellar (2014). Mark Kermode of The Guardian compared the film to "Event Horizon with interstellar overdrive", noting the similar premise to the 1997 film. Critic Kurt Loder praised the visual effects but criticized the lack of originality and the patchwork style of the script. Adam Graham writing for The Detroit News found problems with the film, giving it a "C" rating: "This is slow, obtuse film-making with little emotional connection." Accolades ==See also==