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Ad Astra

4/10

Stars: Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, John Ortiz, Liv Tyler, Donald Sutherland, Greg Bryk, Loren Dean, Kimberly Elise, John Finn, LisaGay Hamilton, Natasha Lyonne

Director: James Gray

Once again we are launched - Hollywood style - into Outer Space when, in the future, astronaut Brad Pitt, having survived an edge-of-the-seat disaster in space, boldly travels to the far reaches of the solar system to search for his father (played with a commendably straight face by Lee Jones), missing after vanishing in deep space 16 years previously.

Regrettably, much of Pitt's perfunctory portrayal is delivered with the saddened expression of someone battling chronic constipation, but determined to carry on regardless.

If eye-dazzling special effects - at times the moon resembles Disneyland reimagined for future profit - were all that were needed to make a great science fiction movie, then Ad Astra would be flying high with genre greats.

So, if what you are looking for is a superbly visually realised futuristic journey into deep space, then Gray, Pitt and everyone else on both sides of the camera deliver. Providing, that is, you can accept the pretentious plotting, plodding pace and - in the final analysis - the star's predominantly one-note performance.

Alan Frank

USA 2019. UK Distributor: 20th Century Fox. Colour by deluxe.
118 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 12.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 30 Dec 2019

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