History Film / AdAstra

** In the ActionPrologue, Roy falls from the International Space Antenna which is so far up there's no atmosphere to slow his fall. Fortunately he keeps his head and waits till he's fallen enough that his parachute will work; even then it gets damaged by falling debris.

* SpacePirates: The Moon is a lawless no man's land where rival companies compete over the local resources by any means necessary. This includes gangs of vicious pirates roving the surface in search of prey, and they have zero qualms about going ''Film/MadMax'' on convoys of the US military.

* NotTheFallThatKillsYou

* BrokenFaceplate: [[spoiler:Happens to Lieutenant Levant to indicate BoomHeadshot during the Moon chase, as well as the ''Cepheus's'' captain who has the entire faceplate smashed in by an escaped lab monkey. Roy tries to tape it up but he's already dead.]].

* DueToTheDead: When someone dies in space, his/her body gets prayers, then is ThrownOutTheAirlock in his/her space suit. This is in contrast to the Lima crew who have been left floating where they died.

* BrokenFaceplate: Happens to some of the astronauts on the moon to illustrate BoomHeadshot, as well as [[spoiler:the ''Cepheus's'' captain]].

* EmotionSuppression: What Roy has learned to do and did throughout his astronaut career. It took a toll on him.

* FacialHorror: Getting your face [[spoiler:gnawed off by a raging primate]] sure ain't pretty.

* CoolGun: Hard to tell at first but, as some gunfights happen during the film you noticed that each pistol used by the characters shoots out a pulse energy bolt. And seems to be quite powerful as it takes one or two shots max to down anything organic.

* DueToTheDead: When someone dies in space, his/her body gets prayers, then is ThrownOutTheAirlock in his/her space suit.

* FatalFamilyPhoto: The RedShirt lieutenant on the Moon really shouldn't have taped a photo of his wife and kid to his rover's dashboard.

* ShoutOut: The scene where a protagonist is attended by a stewardess on a trip to the Moon, then ascends to said Moon base in a pod-like landing vehicle, appears to be a ShoutOut to ''Film/TwoThousandAndOne''.

** [[spoiler: Turner]] gets mauled by a baboon, and it can be seen that his nose has been torn completely off.

* EasilyForgiven: After everything he's done, [[spoiler:viewers would expect Roy to be court-martialed at best, if not shot outright upon his return to Earth. The ending implies instead that he's free to continue his regular job without any repercussions.]]

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: How Clifford [=McBride=] rationalizes [[spoiler: shutting off life support to part of the station, killing not only those members of his crew who were mutinying to go home, but several who weren't. This stands in cold contrast to his son's MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment below. Both men acted to safeguard the mission they were on, but whereas Roy is horrified by the results of his actions, Clifford felt the ends justified the means.]]

* ManiacMonkeys: A deranged primate test subject is loose in the Norwegian space station.

* MeaningfulName: The US military Space Command is named [=SpaceCom=].

* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler:The three surviving crew members of the ship Roy takes to Mars are scientists, yet they try to kill him, an experienced and highly decorated astronaut, the moment someone on the radio tells them to. [[TotalPartyKill It goes about as well as you'd expect it to]]. Even worse, Roy doesn't actually do anything to them himself. [[EpicFail He merely defends himself until their incompetence results in them accidentally killing each other]].]]
* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:We don't learn if Colonel Pruitt survived the emergency surgery he had to undergo. We also don't learn the fate Helen Lantos after she helps him sneak onboard the shuttle bound for Neptune. Roy tells her it's not going to end well for her helping him sneak on such a classified ship, but she says she doesn't care.]]
* UnfitForGreatness: The ''Cepheus''' second captain [[spoiler:after the first one [[MakesSenseInContext is killed by baboons]]]] expresses anxiety and cowardice from the very start that Roy picks up on immediately. This leads to [[spoiler:Roy having to take control of the ''Cepheus'' during a problematic landing on Mars due to the captain locking up in fear, but Roy afterwards promises not to report the incident to [=SpaceCom=] .]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: To Gray's ''Film/TheLostCityOfZ''. Both films are character studies about explorers venturing out into the great unknown in search of another world that face mortal dangers, strained relationships with family, fathers & sons reflecting the desires of the need to know more life out there, and marvelously [[SceneryPorn well done visuals]]. But where the two differ is in perspective and origin: ''Z'' was BasedOnATrueStory of the real life Percy Fawcett whereas ''Ad Astra'' was an original idea Gray had cooking in his noggin since 2011. On top of that, whereas ''Z'' was about a father searching for unknown civilizations and then having his son almost inherenting that desire, ''Ad Astra'' is about a father [[spoiler: who becomes a lunatic and the son, who is a fellow explorer, is terrified of becoming his dad due the actions his father committed]].

* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy:
** The Norwegian research station that Roy investigates on his way to Mars is stated to be orbiting an asteroid. There are no asteroids in stable orbits between Earth and Mars (the asteroid belt is further out, between Mars and Jupiter), and there's no reason to tow one there just to have a space station zip around it.
** Thankfully averted by Neptune's rings. They really are only a couple of meters thick, so Roy [[DungeonBypass flying around]] instead of [[AsteroidThicket through them]] like he does is fairly realistic.

** Speaking of antimatter: matter-antimatter annihilation does produce lots of radiation and occasionally some exotic particles. However, the way the interaction with Neptune's atmosphere creates a ''massive'' EMP that surges through the entire solar system with enough power to disable half the planets in its path stretches the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief.

** Related to the above, Mars has significantly stronger gravity than Earth's moon, yet the rocket that lifts off on Mars seems to make do with a smaller booster instead of a larger one.

* SpaceIsNoisy: Averted. There are plenty of explosions and gunshots, but we only hear (muffled) sounds when there's contact with characters or ships.

* TakeTheWheel: Roy ends up having to do this when, during the landing on Mars, a pulse knocks the ''Cepheus'' off its landing trajectory and the Captain, formerly the second, of the ship freezes up rather than manually correcting the ship. He's actually quite understanding and tells the man when it's over he won't mention this to their superiors.

* SpaceOpera: The Ad Astra's story involved Roy traveling around locales around the solar system, many of which are colonized and provided a sense of action.

* AnachronismStew: Space technology is so advanced that you can book scheduled flights to the Moon without much ado, the Moon itself is heavily developed, Mars has been settled as well, and there's mention of numerous other outposts throughout the solar system. At the same time, some elements of the space ports on Earth and the Moon sport a visual style straight out of TheSixties, as do the lunar rovers Roy uses to reach his connecting flight to Mars. Meanwhile, most of what we see of contemporary society seems nearly unchanged from the late 2010s (Subway still has the exact same logo, for instance).

* BookEnds: The film begins and ends with Roy narrating virtually the same lines for his psychological evaluation.

[[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture In the near future]], the Solar System is struck by mysterious power surges of unknown origin, threatening the future of human life. After surviving an incident on an immense space antenna caused by one of these surges, Major Roy [=McBride=] is informed that the source of the surges has been traced to the "Lima Project" base where his father, Clifford, was stationed twenty-six years ago. And there's reason to believe that his father may still be alive. What follows is a race against time as he and Colonel Pruitt, an old friend of the senior [=McBride=], try to locate Roy's father and find out what exactly happened to the Lima Project.

* AccidentalMurder: [[spoiler:Roy's boarding the ''Cepheus'' results in the deaths of the three astronauts manning it, mostly due to their own incompetent attempts to arrest him while taking off from Mars. Roy still considers their deaths his fault.]]

* AnachronismStew: Space technology is so advanced that you can book scheduled flights to the Moon without much ado, the Moon itself is heavily developed, Mars has been settled as well, and there's mention of numerous other outposts throughout the solar system. At the same time, some elements of the space ports on Earth and the Moon sport a visual style straight out of TheSixties, as do the lunar rovers Roy uses to reach his connecting flight to Mars.
* ApologeticAttacker: Roy becomes one of these when he attempts to [[spoiler:hijack The ''Cepheus'' and tries to force the crew to stand down]]. [[TooDumbToLive Unfortunately, his pleas are unheard.]]

* ExplosiveDecompression: Employed by Roy to dispatch [[spoiler: the killer primates.]]