Judging by the basic plot and tone of
Ad Astra, it appears that writer/director James Gray is a big fan of both
Apocalypse Now and
2001: A Space Odyssey. Can you blame him? Both of those movies are, like any Lizzo album, flat-out excellent. Taking the story structure of Apocalypse Now concerning an internally tormented man making a trek to a mysterious legendary figure isolated from general society and then mixing it with the slow-paced cosmic aesthetic of
2001: A Space Odyssey is already an interesting framework for a somber exploration of Astronaut Brad Pitt's daddy issues. Much like how last weekends
Hustlers used a clear love for Scorsese to make something new, so too does
Ad Astra take two beloved films from decades past as a springboard for its own distinct feature film.
