Movie:
Disc:
NASA
loses contact with two astronauts in orbit fixing a satellite for a few
minutes after a freak accident. The astronauts make their way back to Earth
okay, but one astronaut dies of massive stroke during a work party. Later
his wife commits suicide at his funeral reception.
The other astronaut (Johnny Depp) is somehow changed by his near-death
experience in orbit and his newly pregnant wife (Charlize Theron with a Mia
Farrow circa Rosemary’s Baby haircut) suspects him of being Satan, er,
sorry, an alien pod person. Is she just being paranoid?
Of course we in the audience knows that she isn’t being paranoid and that he
is indeed an alien interloper; otherwise, there’d be no movie - now would
there? And so this 1999 movie stretches out what should have been a short
Outer Limits episode on TV into a full-length feature movie length of an
impossibly long 109 minutes.
Mia, sorry, Charlize’s character is all whiny and pathetic and you despise
her for it. (All she needs is a good divorce lawyer, you know.) Johnny Depp
– also sporting a daft hairstyle – is all meaningful glances and stares. If
he had a moustache he would surely twirl it and laugh maniacally. Charlize
threatens suicide. The audience wishes she’d do it because then the movie
would finally be over.
THE DISC: No special features except for a trailer. Image quality is decent.
WORTH IT? What was intended to be a slow and brooding thriller just turns
out to be an overlong and dull Twilight Zone episode.
RECOMMENDATION: You can safely give The Astronaut's
Wife a skip.
