The Astronaut's Wife (1999)

A waste of time, talent, and money.
The movie begins slowly, and plods all the way until the hokey ending. It's not a complete rip-off of a single film, but a rather predictible cobbling-together of a number of tired plot devices from 'Rosemary's Baby', 'The Devil's Advocate', 'The Omen', etc.

Pretty much the whole movie consists of blue-filtered shots of Charlize wandering around and being frightened by sudden appearances from her sneaky and unnecessarily ominous husband, interspersed with reminders that that she's pregnant with her possessed spouse's evil alien twins.

In the end, Charlize's character electrocutes her husband by flooding their apartment and then plugging in a submerged radio when he's standing in the puddle, yet in the next scene is shown remarried and living happily as a possessed housewife raising the two evil alien twins. How she managed to avoid being placed in custody after murdering her husband eludes me.

Did I mention that the whole ordeal was pointless, since the alien just left the husband's dead body and possessed her anyway? When you can transform into a pusling amalgam of tentacular energy and possess people at will, what's the point of inhabiting Johnny Depp and having him stalk around an apartment, spooking his wife, before being barbecued? Staving off boredom, I guess.

Do yourself a favor and get something else.

New "take" on Rosemary's Baby fails to thrill
THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE is quite polished and well made. However, it fails to interest, excite or satisfy for a number of reasons.

First, it is a blatant update of a classic thriller, ROSEMARY'S BABY, so lacks any sort of suspense. We know where the plot is going. Second, we only have one scene with Depp's character before his outer space experience, so are unable to notice the subtle changes that occur after this event; therefore, we are unable to be drawn into the film's premise and the heroine's predicament. This is the fault of the screenplay. Third, the title - this has to be one of the weakest titles ever to come out of Hollywood, a title that promises nothing interesting and at least does deliver in that one aspect. ENEMY WITHIN, LOST ENCOUNTER, ALIEN HUSBAND - yes, terrible all, but better than the bland THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE.

The cinematography is impressive - dark but well lit. The editing effects are top notch. The musical score is properly menacing and edgy. Theron seems to be on medication through much of her performance - there is no registration of apprehension, processing of the pieces that don't fit, fear, mistrust, and ultimate terror. If we didn't know that this was going the way of ROSEMARY'S BABY, and with our knowledge of her character's breakdown and hallucinations at her recent parents' deaths, we'd wonder if this was really happening to her or whether she was imaginging it - this could have made a similar film subject edgier.

Depp plays a villain - a suave villain. He is given light brown hair with blonde highlights, he adopts a good old boy Texas accent and is properly solicitous and controlling in the role of the possessed husband. His character is written and directed one dimensionally, so he is not really allowed to shine. The script is slanted toward Theron's character as the lead with Depp in strong support, rather than co-lead.

One must applaud the brief supporting performance of the ever wonderful Donna Murphy (two time Tony winner) as the other wife. She is vivid and unforgettable. When she is on screen with Theron, you can't watch Theron. You're riveted on Murphy-she commands the screen.

To sum up the film, it's beautiful to look at, but unremarkable, uninteresting and tepid. Not a bad film, just an okay film.

New "take" on Rosemary's Baby fails to thrill
THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE is quite polished and well made. However, it fails to interest, excite or satisfy for a number of reasons.

First, it is a blatant update of a classic thriller, ROSEMARY'S BABY, so lacks any sort of suspense. We know where the plot is going. Second, we only have one scene with Depp's character before his outer space experience, so are unable to notice the subtle changes that occur after this event; therefore, we are unable to be drawn into the film's premise and the heroine's predicament. This is the fault of the screenplay. Third, the title - this has to be one of the weakest titles ever to come out of Hollywood, a title that promises nothing interesting and at least does deliver in that one aspect. ENEMY WITHIN, LOST ENCOUNTER, ALIEN HUSBAND - yes, terrible all, but better than the bland THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE.

The cinematography is impressive - dark but well lit. The editing effects are top notch. The musical score is properly menacing and edgy. Theron seems to be on medication through much of her performance - there is no registration of apprehension, processing of the pieces that don't fit, fear, mistrust, and ultimate terror. If we didn't know that this was going the way of ROSEMARY'S BABY, and with our knowledge of her character's breakdown and hallucinations at her recent parents' deaths, we'd wonder if this was really happening to her or whether she was imaginging it - this could have made a similar film subject edgier.

Depp plays a villain - a suave villain. He is given light brown hair with blonde highlights, he adopts a good old boy Texas accent and is properly solicitous and controlling in the role of the possessed husband. His character is written and directed one dimensionally, so he is not really allowed to shine. The script is slanted toward Theron's character as the lead with Depp in strong support, rather than co-lead.

One must applaud the brief supporting performance of the ever wonderful Donna Murphy (two time Tony winner) as the other wife. She is vivid and unforgettable. When she is on screen with Theron, you can't watch Theron. You're riveted on Murphy-she commands the screen.

To sum up the film, it's beautiful to look at, but unremarkable, uninteresting and tepid. Not a bad film, just an okay film.