DETROIT (WWJ) - Everyone's entitled to slip up now and then, and that includes Brad Pitt. For that reason, we have to forgive him for his misstep with Ad Astra.
In this, his latest project, Pitt serves as both a producer and co-star. He plays astronaut Major Roy McBride, who's leading a team in building the world's largest antenna. The antenna is designed to locate advanced alien life. While high atop the structure, a sudden power surge sends one of his colleagues tumbling to the ground and almost costs McBride his life. The incident, which is just one of many that have been occurring on Earth, is caused by radioactive bursts, the result of electrical surges.
At the heart of the problem, U.S. intelligence officials believe, is Roy's father, H. Clifford McBride, who commanded the Lima (LEE-muh) Project, a long-ago mission. Both Clifford and his ship have been missing for 16 years. Roy believes his father died in space. But, in a top secret mission, U.S. officials tell Roy that his father is still alive and they want Roy to find him. They believe Clifford may be committing potential acts of terrorism inside the rings of Neptune, and they think Roy is the only person who can lure him out of hiding.
In order to reach Neptune, Roy has to take a commercial shuttle to the Moon. Once there, he and Colonel Pruitt, a retired astronaut and one of his father’s oldest friends, are to be escorted to a remote base, where they will board a spacecraft that will take them to Mars. But first, they have to travel from one outpost to another ... and on the way, they're attacked by lunar pirates and renegades. I have to say that incident was not unexpected. I could tell from the setup that someone -- or some members of their military escort -- were not going to make it. Not to mention that the attack itself was rather ho hum.
In addition to Pitt, Ad Astra also stars Academy Award® winner Tommy Lee Jones (Just Getting Started, Jason Bourne), Academy Award® nominee Ruth Negga (Loving, “Preacher”); Liv Tyler (The Lord of the Rings, Armageddon) and Donald Sutherland (The Hunger Games, Trust).
And, in case you're wondering, per aspera ad astra is Latin for “Through hardship to the stars.”
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