In the near future, commercial flights take passengers to the moon, babies are born on Mars, and power surges have begun to wreak havoc across the solar system. Astronaut Roy McBride is sent to investigate these surges, and to discover the truth about his father, a famed and presumed dead astronaut. Ad Astra is an adventure film, with chase scenes on the moon and zero-gravity fight sequences. Although the action is exciting, the film’s strength lies in subverting the genre. Rather than being a film about a tough action hero racing against the clock to save the universe, Ad Astra is about a hero whose strength lies in his humility and emotion. He is a hero who does not consider himself a hero; he is just someone searching for human connection.
To a certain extent, Roy does fit the mold of a typical action hero: he always comes out on top in any impossible situation. But, Roy is better defined by how humble and gentle he is. He knows that Major Roy McBride is a highly esteemed public figure, but he does not view himself in that way, even though he proves again and again that he is worthy of the praise he receives. He even goes so far to call himself selfish for jumping at the possibility that his father might still be alive. Roy reacts in this way because he was never really allowed to express his emotions – he is praised for focusing on his missions and for never having a heart rate over 80 bpm regardless of how severe a situation is. Roy has a very gentle nature, but he has been repressing this side of himself his entire life. When he contemplates why he wanted to become an astronaut like his father in the first place, he realizes he never wanted to be famous. He was motivated by his desire for human connection: he saw becoming an astronaut as the only way he could reach his father, who was absent throughout his childhood and disappeared when Roy was sixteen. As Roy becomes more invested in his search for his father, he realizes he has been harboring bitterness and anger towards his father for leaving him. This prompts him to realize that his anger has been driving his search, pushing him away from a stable life on earth, where he will disappear into the stars like his father.
It is advantageous for the film to make Roy more human and therefore more relatable rather than the perfect model action hero. Anyone can connect with the idea of wanting to live and to love. This idea ties into Ad Astra’s central message: it is easy to look so hard for something that you can miss what is right in front of you. It is only after getting closure about his father that Roy realizes he had let himself be consumed by searching for his father, unknowingly pushing away his loved ones in the process. Ad Astra could have pushed Roy down a dark, obsessive path, but it guides him towards self-realization instead. Ultimately, Ad Astra is a surprisingly optimistic film about human connection, and it is a reminder that there is strength in emotion.
Image source: https://filmschoolrejects.com/ad-astra-imax-trailer/
