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Cast
Spencer Armacost (Johnny Depp)
Jillian Armacost (Charlize Theron)
Sherman Reese (Joe Morton)
Alex Streck (Nick Cassavetes)
Natalie Streck (Donna Murphy)
Written and Directed by Rand Ravich
Rated
R for violence, language, and strong sexuality
Running Time: 110 minutes Distributed by New Line Cinema
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The Astronaut's Wife [1999] on DVD at Amazon!
The
Astronaut's Wife is a film that gets lost by having too many
loopholes. Spencer Armacost (Depp) is a veteran astronaut
and a terrific husband to his wife, Jillian (Theron). Tragedy
strikes Spencer and fellow astronaut Alex (Cassavetes) when
something strange goes wrong on his current space mission.
Spencer and Alex are hurried back to earth and are treated
and revived. The two astronauts are considered American heroes
and Spencer is back with his love Jillian. Spencer then decides
to quit NASA and move to New York City with Jillian. Jillian
is surprised by Spencer's decision and also becomes confused
because he will not talk about the accident that happen to
him in space. After a few freaky and sad scenes the couple
moves to New York City, and Jillian becomes very scared and
worried by the recent actions that Spencer has perform at
his job and to her. Jillian then learns that she is pregnant
with twins and suspects that Spencer is not the same man she
married. These events open many doorways of the mysteries
behind Spencer Armacost and his future plans for himself and
his family.
The
Astronaut's Wife is just an incomplete film. After the credits
roll at the end, there are so many important aspects in the
film that were left unsolved. These concepts are what really
hurts this film.
The
script is a disaster of many missing pieces. Rand Ravich,
the director and writer of The Astronaut's Wife, had something
to work with. I liked the plot line, the sequencing, and the
dialogue, but the story is never finished. Ravich was either
rushed with banging the script out, or had the cut a lot of
scenes out. If the script would have been more tight, and
about 15 minutes longer that the film would have worked. Maybe
Ravich's intention was to leave open with all the loopholes
for the audience to fill in. However, that concept doesn't
ever work well with science fiction thrillers.
The
acting in The Astronaut's Wife was fine and probably the best
thing in the movie. Johnny Depp is very sharp in his role
as Spencer Armacost. Charlize Theron is also pretty good,
but her character in the film is very similar to the one she
portrayed in The Devil's Advocate. I believe that Theron has
talent, her emotional status and niches are outstanding. I
would just like to see her choose some different roles, to
help her become more versatile. Maybe like a character driven
romantic comedy or a pure tearjerker film. Theron was a child
actress, then a model in her teenage years and early twenties,
and now she is back to acting. She was first seen in 1984's
horror classic Children of the Corn, and then jumped back
to the screen in 1996 in the wicked thriller 2 Days in the
Valley. Joe Morton (Sherman Reese), whose credits include
Terminator 2, Blues Brothers 2000, and Apt Pupil, delivers
an effective supporting performance as the one man from NASA
that has a sketchy idea of what really happen in space to
Spencer Armacost.
The
Astronaut's Wife is a film that had something to work with,
but didn't elaborate on it. This year's The Matrix is one
of only few science fiction films that I have seen work well
with story line and the use of computer generated effects.
The Astronaut's Wife has no need for computer generated effects,
and there is only one or two in it. I would like to see more
science fiction films that don't rely on the computer effects
but on the script. However, The Astronaut's Wife becomes wounded
and dies from its script.
The
Astronaut's Wife is an adult focused thriller, that's acting
is really the only strong element use in the movie.
Report
Card Grade: C-
Beastman's
Movie Reviews
Copyright,
1999 Joseph C. Tucker
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