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murkalurk2099 (4)
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<blockquote>But it still makes no sense at all. TLJ character is a half-blind grandpa just after half of the sheduled time while the travel time back to earth is just 80 days? Why not replace the personel at least every 5 years or just send an unmanned drone.</blockquote>
Maybe less expensive to leave a self-sufficient crew in place and not constantly have to rotate the personnel in and out.
SpaceCom was probably reluctant to risk further personnel to rescue the Lima Project after it went radio-dark, at least until it became clear that the malfunctioning station was causing the dangerous surges.
An unmanned drone would have been unable to recover from a surge the way human crews could, seeing as people would be able to take manual control over the ship in the event of damage to the computers.
<blockquote>And why did he have to send his message to mars? I mean ok its a plot device but was it explained that otherwise someone could intercept the message of doom?</blockquote>
I believe it was explained during the debrief on earth that Mars had the last functioning secure-communication terminal that could contact Lima, the messages had to be sent from there.
There are a lot of things that were only vaguely explained in the movie, it was probably a conscious decision to keep the film focussed on the theme of "overcoming despair", and not get bogged down in hard sci-fi jargon that would probably still not be able to adequately explain away all the inconsistencies. The film is basically an elaborate metaphor for a "journey into the heart of darkness" a la Apocalypse Now, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Fountain, or Sorcerer (1977). You have to make a choice as to whether you can get over the ambivalent aspects or not; it's something that's up to personal taste.
I just watched William Friedkin's Sorcerer (1977) on Halloween and I see a TONNE of parallels between that and Ad Astra. Harrowing voyages into the unknown, against all odds, that are also examinations of the flaws of the protagonist (and by extension humanity), a struggle against nature, isolation, and ultimately insanity. Although I daresay Ad Astra ended on a much more optimistic and life-affirming note, whereas Friedkin has a penchant for stories that traumatize the characters beyond all repair, and some dreadful fate is always in store for them.
But there are sequences in both Sorcerer and Ad Astra, in their respective third acts, that share in the same genealogy of theme, tone, and execution, if you've seen both films, you'll know what I'm talking about! Both are great films in my opinion!
As I understand it, it takes about 80 days for a one way trip, The project was meant to last for 29 years and then return. As for the SETI part, we are meant to assume they have some science fiction hoodoo that can image distant interstellar objects. Which would actually mean that there STILL might be intelligent life elsewhere, but that an insufficient amount of time has passed for evidence of it to reach us due to the limits of the speed of light (and radio waves).
I have to agree, 100% with your picks for the best films (especially Tree of Life, that's one of my favorites). She seems like she wants to break into the blockbuster fare. She's been trying to get Painkiller Jane made for years now, but had some tough breaks with Huntsman and Dark Phoenix. Dark Phoenix was such a massive disappointment. Production decided that the villains should be totally devoid of emotion, but it made them all seem like they were sleepwalking through the film!
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