Hulu sci-fi thriller with an A-list superstar who is already being forgotten

According to Jonathan Klotz
| Published 21 seconds ago

The fate of humanity is at stake and only Brad Pitt, in one of his rare sci-fi roles, can save the known universe. on paper Astra advertisement sounds amazing; it was directed by award-winning James Gray We own the night and The Lost City of Zand features Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland in an extended cast, so all the pieces were in place to make it a hit. Instead, the film is too well-made to be a good and bad film and too boring to be a crowd-pleaser, so it’s stuck in the middle where no film wants to be: competently shot, well-acted, gorgeously shot, but met with a collective indifferent shrug.

A visually stunning journey into space

Astra advertisement has humanity on the brink of collapse due to strange energy shocks from deep within the solar system that are shaking the planet. There are none aliensalthough it is a floating space station in Neptune’s orbit that is responsible for the surge. Brad Pitt as astronaut Roy McBride is sent in charge of a team to find out if anyone is still alive on the space station “Project Lima”, which is supposed to include his father, project commander Clifford McBride. Tommy Lee Jones.

Getting from point A to point B proves difficult, thanks in part to wild lab monkeys, space pirates, more energy blasts hitting their vessel at the worst possible moment, and a series of double crosses. Astra advertisement it can pack a lot in, but at the same time very few consequences. The escaped apes have nothing to do with the fate of the galaxy, so by the time the film gets to the real themes of the story, the bond between father and son and humanity’s hopes for space exploration, most viewers have tuned out.

Ad Astra does too much

When a film is described as “slow,” that’s usually a reviewer’s code word for “boring” or “plodding,” and yes, Astra advertisement is a slow film, but that’s because it’s a rare modern brooding piece of big-budget cinematography science fiction. More 2001: A Space Odyssey than Star Wars, there’s a potential classic of the genre hidden in the script and behind the gorgeous space shots, but the focus is too broad to come out of hiding.

Astra advertisement the transition into the third act is a great moment of focus on Roy, his relationships, what got him to this point and what he hopes to achieve. This is where the film excels, and if there were more such moments and less with runaway monkeys or space pirates, it could attack the heights of other cerebral sci-fi films such as Solaris or Arrival.

Brad Pitt doesn’t usually flock to genre films, but when he does, he brings his A-game, from Interview with the vampire on 12 monkeysand Astra advertisement is no exception. With a running time of 124 minutes, shaving off 10 or even 15 could have tightened the pace and created something that is more memorable and thought provoking instead of a film that tries to do too much and gets lost in the process.

Astra advertisement currently streaming on Hulu.