Customer Reviews

The Astronaut's Wife [VHS]

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(28)
2 star:		(33)
1 star:		(43)

 

 

I watch a fair number of slower paced, atmospheric foreign films that kind of stew in their own juices. I enjoy them. I also like old sci-fi. This film vaguely reminded me of Tarkovsky's "Solaris"--a fave for me. I hope that comparison is helpful to people interested in this movie.

I enjoyed this film. It took an old B-movie story (I think it was "I Married a Space Monster"), and stood it on its head while maintaining the initial point of "what's the difference between body and mind, or soul and genetics." A lot of body in this film and I think that was part of the point. Using an old, and predictable, story or premise as a vehicle is not uncommon--we all knew how the new King Kong was going to end, didn't we--so when it's done, the thing I look for is the shape and flavor of the things hanging off that trite story line, and how it all interacts with our imposition of predestination on a flick.

A hundred plus bad reviews down below--REALLY bad reviews--but after reading many of them I sense a common problem. Johnny Dep is a cult phenomenon, but he's also a fine actor. No matter what he does, he drags a large fan base with him. I think here he accidentally dragged his fan base into a kind movie that just doesn't appeal to fans of sexy media personalities. In a way, Dep's attractiveness and sex appeal work against his proven ability to be a serious and diverse actor. I never see a film BECAUSE Dep is in it, but I do often watch films that happen to have him in the cast and I frequently marvel at his performances.

A tiny handful of good reviews of this movie and I believe every one, no matter how sincere the opinion or well-argued the case--received ONLY "not helpful" votes. I tried to remedy that. Whenever I encounter that sort of skewed voting on an Amazon item, I sense it's almost always in regard to a product that's controversial and people are voting their personal feelings about the issue, not voting for-or-against the genuine helpfulness of the review in question. Write and post a reasoned, tautly argued negative critique of a Michael Moore film or a book on Intelligent Design and watch the negative votes roll in. It's like running for Congress.

What you're seeing here with these reviews of "The Astronaut's Wife" is American Marketing Culture in action. Anyone shopping for Moore or Intelligent Design or Johnny Dep product on Amazon is already an integral part of that niche market the product is carefully designed for. They've largely made up their minds about the topics at hand, so criticism of the topic (its quality, premises, facts--or lack of them--and conclusions, all legitimate targets for intelligent criticism of any book or film) is absolutely not what they're seeking. They give "not helpful" votes to people who are not part of their niche market or (or tribe or clan or cult, to use more appropriate lingo) and add in the 100th glowing five star review that is less a criticism and more a hymn of devotion and admiration; a vote FOR the the favored topic or beloved personality at hand.

The precise reverse happens here. Fans--through skewed one and two star voting and unrelenting damnation--are letting the world know that they don't ever want to see Dep in another movie that bores THEM. This is a signal to the marketing people who help guide Dep's career and it's a totally legitimate communication from Consumers in a Marketing Culture (and really, what else are we these days?). The feedback just isn't what can be considered serious reviews and criticism.

People who disagree with the democratic mob sentiment--like that sad handful who, in the heat of a revolution, sheepishly raise their hands to vote NO in the token rubberstamp vote on whether to storm the palace--are to be slammed down hard; here by informing them (through unanimous "not helpful" votes) their errant opinion is, more truthfully, "not helpful to the cause"--the "cause" being to never have to endure the discomfort of seeing a beloved media figure perform in a film of a "type" "style" or "genre" that is clearly not enjoyed by these fans.

It's a sad thing to have to note, and I wouldn't be expecting much sympathy for such a view, but within these Amazon pages we may actually be witnessing deep truths about people's perceptions and attitudes about democracy, dissent, opinion, and dialogue.

While many critics had utter distaste for "The Astronaut's Wife," I happened to enjoy this horror/sci-fi film very much. It's a lot of fun, and it has eerie cinematography that really draws the viewer into the film. But the real thing that makes this not-so-original flick worth while to watch is the superb acting from Johnny Depp ("Sleepy Hollow," "Edward Scissor Hands") and the stunning, absolutely magnificent Charlize Theron ("Devil's Advocate," "2 Days in the Valley"). Both these actors are very talented and perhaps at the top of their generation. Joe Morton (veteran co-star of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and "Speed") also has a small role here, which makes it all the better.

The film is about an astronaut's wife (Theron) who finds out that her husband (Depp) has come back from space and has been posessed by some alien force. He now has plans on Earth for world domination after he impregnates his wife with his alien children. This is where Morton comes in as he desperately tries to tell the astronaut's wife what is happening. The story moves along at a brisk, yet somewhat predictable pace, and it's really only the ending that proves to have any jolt of suspense and breathless unpredictability. Overall, if you enjoy this type of genre, "The Astronaut's Wife" is well worth your time and money to see.

But it turns out it's just as cold and creepy on Earth, and cold is just how this chilly little Something-in-Outer-space-got-my-Astronaut-Husband flick serves it up. "The Astronaut's Wife" is a stylish, nastily clever, absolutely heartless, efficiently paced and admirably designed little gem of a horror movie, centering on the crux of everyone's worst fears: what if the love of my life is a ghoulish space alien who plans on destroying Earth?

When I was a little kid, I remember being scared silly by tales of outer space terror and body-snatching on those creepy "Outer Limits" and "The Twilight Zone" episodes. Everyone has seen at least one variation on the theme: the noble, heroic astronaut with the jutting jaw and confident swagger goes off on the Antares IV Expedition/Rocket Shoot to Planet X/Mission to the Moon, but when he comes back he's no longer himself. He's one of Them---a leering, skulking, alien horror, waiting to turn the tables on his unwitting friends, relatives, and fellow NASA employees.

That's what "The Astronaut's Wife" feels like to me: a really creepy "Outer Limits" episode with a decent budget, plus Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron. Johnny Depp is perfect as the swaggering Commander Spencer Armacost, who goes up on a routine near-Earth orbit mission with his partner (played admirably by Nick Cassavetes---see, "Astronaut's Wife" is just one degree of separation from "Rosemary's Baby" after all!) one tragic day.

There is a mysterious and inexplicable electrical surge, the mission is aborted, and Armacost goes from doting husband to skulking, leering creep in one fell swoop.

He acquires some interesting new habits as well, like spending quality time with the family radio. He also gets a gig as a consultant for a secret weapons lab (run by the original serial killing 'Tooth Fairy' from "Manhunter", the creepy Tom Noonan).

Charlize Theron turns in a sympathetic performance as a wife who---well, dang it, she likes the high society and the big bucks just fine, but she wishes Johnny Depp would spend less time with the radio and a little more time with her.

Her suspicions mount when a former NASA employee (the great Joe Morton doing his nervous-tic-eye-twitching paranoid thang here)tries frantically to meet with her and communicate his worst fears (that possibly her husband's quality time with the radio has something to do with the fact that he may, in fact, be a Space Alien)and the movie spends most of the rest of its time with Theron in a cat and mouse game with Depp, who, when he's not cozying up to the radio, is skulking around the house switching off lights and doing horrible things to Theron's sister (played by the always resourcefully creepy Clea Duvall). Director Rand Ravitch employs a steady hand and brings things to a boil---all cold, sleek, and subtle.

If you got creeped out by the old "Outer Limits" shows, you'll love it.

JSG

Johnny Depp is my wife's favorite actor, so she bought The Astronaut's Wife from a bargain DVD bin when she saw his face on the cover.

The plot's a little garbled, but it goes something like this: Capt. Alex Streck (Nick Cassavettes) and Commander Spence Armacost (Johnny Depp) go off on a space mission. When they come back, they're different. Some kind of weird sound--it sounds like shrieking static--was beamed into their bodies. What it is, exactly, we're not sure. Let's call it "a possessing entity."

This malevolent entity wants to have children. Twins, to be precise. So Spence becomes fixated on 1) molesting his wife Jillian (Charlize Theron), and 2) building a spacecraft for two pilots. And then Jillian finds out she's pregnant! And soon, Streck dies of a seizure and his wife Natalie (Donna Murphy) commits suicide with a toaster! And it turns out she was pregnant...WITH TWINS!

Scary stuff, right?

Well, no. It's not scary. In fact, the film lingers and drags. Struggling to inject some urgency is the frenetic Sherman Reese (Joe Morton). Sherman is convinced something is wrong. He goes about it all the wrong way, of course, babbling on about aliens from outer space, harassing poor Jillian, and basically ensuring that he's a one note character, not an actually developed person.

This movie is a blatant rip-off (or homage, if you think it's good) of Rosemary's Baby. This explains Theron's pageboy haircut, but doesn't excuse anything else. The battle of wills between husband and wife is really a battle of viewer's patience. Will she escape her husband? Will Jillian abort the children? Does anyone care?

It's hard to care. For much of the film, we're not entirely convinced that there's anything actually wrong with Spence. He seems genuinely concerned with his wife; if the movie had bothered to keep us guessing, this would have made for an interesting twist (maybe she WAS crazy all along!). But it devolves pretty quickly.

There's lots of sexual symbolism, and not the good kind. Yes folks, this is the first film I've ever seen that seriously showed a subway train entering a tunnel overlapped with Depp's "Oh" face (fans of Office Space will know what I mean). Is that symbolism or what?

Finally, Depp has affected a southern accent for no discernable reason. It turns into something of a vague mumble and he shifts in and out of it (especially when angry), such that we're not sure if Spence really ever had an accent. Wouldn't it have been cool if the accent disappeared when the alien possessed him? Yeah, that would have been neat movie.

Rosemary's Baby was very much a product of its time. The Astronaut's Wife has all the pretty people and slick special effects, but never really bothers to reinforce the sinister nature of the people from beyond. EVERYONE gets that the Devil is evil incarnate and that you don't want to have his baby. The Astronaut's Wife never actually proves that the aliens are bad...Jillian's twins could go on to create world peace for all we know.

Fortunately, Depp and Theron would go on to do much better works. Alas, the Astronaut's Wife serves as a reminder that you can't just swap out religion with aliens and assume it will be a great movie.

I know of someone who told his friends to go see this "really, really good movie called Astronaut's Wife". After seeing the movie, all of his friends wanted to strangle him ... !

I initially had moderate to high hopes for this film, being a horror/sci-fi buff. It was very apparent from the movie's trailer that the story most likely involves the old "alien living inside a person's body" theme, and such was indeed the case. The problem is that the story failed to come up with a new "twist" to this subject to make it even remotely interesting.

If the message still isn't clear at this point, then maybe this will help : AVOID BUYING THIS PATHETIC DVD AT ALL COSTS ! Rent the film and watch it first if you really have to (if only to see Charlize Theron perhaps?) to really understand what I'm talking about. Just don't make the mistaske of spending your hard-earned money on this title.

Why everyone say that's a bad movie? Because it is?... One movie, in this case, a Sci Fi movie, must'nt have a lot of special effect's to be good. I think the story, and the way she's told, are very good on this The Astronaut's Wife. The idea of an extraterrestrial inteligence moving across the space, trying to find a body to survive it's very original, on my opinion. The story it's not obvious, and perhaps that's because the most part of the people dont like that.

Not interesting? Because it's not like de Star Wars?... Baaaaaa

Charlize Theron is a concerned wife who believes her astronaut husband (Johnny Depp) isn't quite himself after a mysterious accident in outer space. Paranoid, Roman Polanski-style thriller moves at an incredibly slow pace, rambles on predictably, and concludes with an obvious, Outer Limits-type ending. This is most notable for featuring Clea Duvall, which makes it three films the actress has been in where people are possessed by extraterrestrials (the other two being The Faculty and Ghosts of Mars).
* 1/2 out of *****

Despite all of the bad reviews this movie has seen, it IS an excellent film. The acting is very well-done (by ALL cast members). Every actor took on the role in their own realistic way. This movie is far from perfect, but the only real downside is that it's a relatively slow-moving film. However, it's very realistic non-the-less.

This was a completely good movie in almost every aspect. I don't understand what all the hubbuub is about, The Astronaut's Wife was not that bad a movie. Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron superbly portrayed their characters, right down to the smallest detail. Depp really shows how far his acting range can extend to. And Theron completely took me by surprise, she really steals the show. As for all the comparisons to Rosemary's Baby, they are few and very far between. The most apparent would be Theron's hair style which is a distant reminder of Mia Farrow. But from this man's point of view, this film completely stands on its own as original, entertaining, and thrilling. My only beef is the DVD itself, there aren't any special features included save a theatrical trailer and a few biographys. Although a director commentary and/or making of documentary would have been a nice bonus, the picture and sound are both a ten, and that is enough to satisfy me.

Just imagine, a character-driven science fiction. What's more, there are only two visual effects shots throughout the entire movie, which says something. One might say that the film budget was too low to allow it to become an effects movie. I disagree, though, because for what it lacked in effects the movie made up for in story, acting, directing, and script. Please watch this with an open mind, don't let all the critics sway you. It never ceases to amaze me how many people will believe and watch a movie based on what one or two people have said about it. Form your own opinions, not just for this movie but for all the others that have gotten a bad rap.

"The Astronaut's Wife" is simply one of those films that I think I picked up due to an interest in Charlize Theron and Johnny Depp's acting careers more so than in the film itself. Having said that, this DVD still sat on the shelf for a number of years until recently. From a purely "psychological thriller" point of view, this film delivers but does so in a rather mediocre way. From a Sci-Fi, point of view, the film struggles in all aspects other than the basic concept of the plot.

In typical fashion, Charlize Theron delivers her part seamlessly. As with all the parts I've seen her play, she gets inside the role and plays it out extremely well. It's just too bad her performance cannot save the script or the director's vision of this film. I can't say that I'm a huge Johnny Depp fan but I can say that I have a passing interest in his film career and have definitely seen much better performances from him prior to and after making this film. Granted, the part he played here may have been a rather subdued role however; his interpretation of the role left much to be desired in his performance.

I cannot say that I've seen any of the very few other films that have been directed by Rand Ravich however, given this film's performance both in the theaters and in post theater market, one can easily see why he's directed very few films since. The score for the film was fitting per scene though.

The Premise:

Spencer (Johnny Depp) and his fellow astronaut end up out of communication for a mere two minutes while working on a satellite. Upon their return to Earth, those two minutes become pivotal in the effect it has on Spencer and Jillian's (Charlize Theron) lives and the lives of his fellow astronaut and his wife played by the ever beautiful Donna Murphy.

Overall, I would recommend this film only in the light that if you're a fan of either Johnny Depp or Charlize Theron and wishing to review their entire bodies of work. Beyond that reason, the film fails to deliver in either genre that it was reaching for. {ssintrepid}

Special Features:
None