Thread by @pud333

#AdAstra is... superb. This is what Scorcese was talking about when he made the criticisms between amusement parks vs cinema. With this, Joker, OUATIH, Midsommar and others, this is the cinema I love. Films that don't spoonfeed you. More spoiler-free thoughts. Thread...

The good: Some magnificent set pieces. From the opening freefall to the moon chase, there are some really great sci-fi scenes.

Very subtle but really perfect score.

I love that people make mistakes, sometimes very tragic mistakes, but they're all essentially on the same side.

It shares the same genetic makeup as Apocalypse Now. To criticise that it didn't have sci-fi, is to criticize Apocalypse Now for not having military strategies every 5 minutes. The hard sci-fi is there the way the war is there in Apocalypse Now. It's all around, it absorbs you.

The sci-fi isn't there to impress you, it's there to give the environment for the real battle, which is man vs man, man vs self.

The bad: Despite the battle of the self, it felt soulless at times, almost joyless. Even in the quiet times when characters smiled, there is no joy.

The film is almost relentlessly nihilistic feeling. But this may be more of a credit to the black, empty void of space as it's backdrop.

Final thoughts: This is the Brad Pitt show. It's his pretty face and internal monologue for 2 hrs. He does a great job but you gotta want it.

While being nihilistic, the film pulls it out about five minutes from the end of the film. It falls short of being truly top shelf sci-fi (eg: Interstellar or Arrival), because of the lack of emotion through most of it. There aren't enough levels. It's one tone for 80% of it.

Still, it's a fantastic movie and one I feel will grow on me with subsequent viewings.

9/10