James Gray seems to have a thing about fathers and sons. In his previous outing The Lost City of Z, a father left his family behind and travels 5000 miles across the globe to pursue his obsession of finding a city made of gold. We followed in across the world and watched how he could never let go of his obsession despite the toll it was having on his relationships at home.

Ad Astra involves that dynamic as well but from the other side, and taken to an extreme. We follow a son who was abandoned by his father who traveled 2.8 billion miles away in pursuit of scientific knowledge.

When we first meet Major Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) he’s standing literally on top of the world, working on an International Space Antenna that stretches from the ground all the way to space. Space is where he’s most comfortable, isolated in his suit and perfectly calm until a massive power surge knocks him off the tower and he plummets back to earth. Even through this pulse pounding sequence his pulse never pounds, he famously has never had his heart rate get above 80. But then he learns power surge originated in space and may have been caused by his father.