Brad Pitt's Haunting 'Interstellar'-Style Sci-Fi Thriller Is Officially on Netflix

Space movies don't just need to have aliens, or supernova explosions, or Death Stars to make them worthwhile, and particularly, to make the infinite darkness of the universe anything less than terrifying. Sometimes they just need Brad Pitt having interstellar daddy issues, several billion miles of absolutely nothing, and pirates on the moon to make it a fun day out.

That movie is Ad Astra, and Pitt's acclaimed sci-fi epic has officially landed on Netflix in the United States. The 2019 movie joined the streaming service on October 1, giving one of Pitt's more unusual blockbusters a new streaming home seven years after its original theatrical release. Directed by James Gray (The Lost City of Z), Ad Astra takes place in the near future, when a mysterious life-threatening event strikes Earth, forcing astronaut Roy McBride (Pitt) to undertake a dangerous mission across an unforgiving solar system to uncover the truth about his missing father and his doomed expedition that now, 30 years later, threatens the universe. By the time McBride ends up around Neptune, things start to get very weird indeed.

The cast is led by Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) as Roy McBride, alongside Tommy Lee Jones (No Country for Old Men) as Clifford McBride, Ruth Negga (Preacher) as Helen Lantos, Donald Sutherland (The Hunger Games) as Thomas Pruitt, Liv Tyler (The Lord of the Rings) as Eve McBride, John Ortiz (Silver Linings Playbook) as Lieutenant General Rivas, Kimberly Elise (John Q.) as Lorraine Deavers, and Loren Dean (Gattaca) as Donald Stanford.

How Good Is 'Ad Astra'?

This was more of a movie for critics than for audiences when it first launched back in 2019, when the world was different. The current consensus is an impressive 83% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes, compared with a much cooler 40% verified audience score, with critics particularly taken with Pitt's restrained performance, Gray's direction and the movie's spectacular visuals, even if the movie was actually a lot slower, more cerebral and restrained than many were expecting. The movie was also a substantial production. Made for a reported budget approaching $100 million, Ad Astra earned approximately $135 million worldwide, including just over $50 million domestically. It later earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound Mixing.

Ad Astra is streaming now on Netflix in the United States.