The film "Ad Astra" seems even longer. Indeed, it clocks in at about two hours in running time. That gives you a rough idea how much this film drags. And drags.
And DRAGS.
Frankly, this movie is one big green screen. You're plunging to the Earth from about 15,000 feet. You're in some spaceship headed to Mars and/or Neptune. You're weightless in zero gravity floating around outer space unattached. It's all nice to look at it, but not a single shot of "Ad Astra" is done without the aid of some computer.
Yawn.
Brad Pitt is the star, one of the producers, and probably even installed some of the CGI on his own home computer. As good as Brad was in "Once Upon A Time...," (a movie that will earn him, I predict, a Best Actor nomination) he is borderline comatose in this intergalactic mess. Monotone to a fault, you look for the volume switch to make him louder. Sadly, most cinemas have not yet installed such a device for its patrons.
There is some semblance of a plot that was likely dashed off on the back of a Chinese take-out menu in between scheduling time to see the kids Brad had with Angelina. Pitt is an astronaut as was his dad (played creepily by Tommy Lee Jones). The only trouble is that Papa went to Neptune on a mission 16 years ago and never came back. Now he might be the one that is creating all these electrical disturbances in the universe. Finally, something that they don't blame on Trump.
Well, Brad is sent to go get Dad by way of Mars, which seems like an odd detour to me. This allows the director James Gray to make some comments on the current state of the planet's environment, climate change, diversity, and the rising price of gas at the pump.
Yawn. Again.
Through all these bumps and grinds and political mallets over the head, I must have nodded off a dozen or so times. That would explain the crick I had in my neck by the end of "Ad Astra."
So, yes, "Ad Astra" does end eventually. And you'll be glad it does. Better still, don't even be in the theater when it starts.
LEN'S RATING: One-and-a-half stars.
Dinner last night: Grilled pork chop and potatoes.
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