# Astronaut's Wife, The (1999)

### reviewed by
Frankie Paiva

    The Astronaut’s Wife (R) ***
    Starring Charlize Theron, Johnny Depp
    Directed by Rand Ravich
    Year Released: 1999
    A Review by Frankie Paiva

There are times when you just seem to disagree with what everyone else has said about a movie. I’m sure out there (somewhere) there are people who loved Wild Wild West, or thought Jawbreaker was a funny movie, there may even be some people who enjoyed Idle Hands. But if I am the major supporter of one film this year that everyone else hated its got to be The Astronaut’s Wife. While certainly got a quality thriller in the spiritual and life-changing meaning sense, it still delivers what it set out to do in the first place, be a good summer movie.

Spencer Armacost (Depp) is an astronaut whose wife is worried about him when he goes out on his next expedition into space. While in orbit, Spencer and another astronaut get cut off from all communications for nearly two minutes. They manage to make it out alive and are regarded as heroes when they return to earth. But his wife Jillian (Theron), a school teacher, seems to notice some differences in him after he lands. He takes a high class job in New York without even telling her, and the other man he was up in space with dies. Not to mention his wife electrocutes herself in the shower.

Jillian soon learns that she is to be the mother of two bouncing baby boys. Twins that look eerily like little alien bodies. Spencer gets to be stranger and stranger, sometimes he doesn’t call if he’s coming home late and he always seems to be listening to different frequencies on the radio. We all know something is wrong, but we can’t quite figure out what. Then a NASA scientist shows up at her door with some of the medical records and documents on Spencer before he got on the spaceship and after. All of the newer ones seem slightly altered then the ones he signed before getting on the ship. Poor Jillian begins to think that her Spencer is no longer human and some type of alien creature has taken the place of her former husband. The idea is confirmed when we learn that Spencer is stalking the scientist and beats her when she tries taking pills to kill the baby.

Yes, I am fully aware that this sounds like an extremely cheap rip-off of Rosemary’s Baby, but it’s not. There aren't any evil aliens with ray guns that try to take over the solar system, the film mostly deals with the suspense and wonder of Spencer's true identity. The suspense is drawn out just about as far as it can, the film is EXTREMELY slow for the first thirty or forty minutes until things get rolling. Theron is great, while slightly unbelievable as a pregnant woman (she still retains her thin frame) she adds a lot of emotion that you probably don’t expect from seeing the trailers. Johnny doesn’t get to do much in this picture, and the only word I could come up with for his acting ability would be retrained. The ending is kind of a disappointment, it easily could have been made so that we wonder what happens to the her two sons. Still, the film shot well, has some clever twists and turns, and has some pretty tense moments. If only Jillian could have been able to discover for herself what was happening to her husband instead of someone else telling her. I think it would have been much scarier that way. A good movie in the midst of August junk, The Astronaut’s Wife gets *** stars.

The Young-Uns: Tense moments, and death by electrocution occurs near the beginning and end of the film. A man also rapes his wife and there is some language. Good Age 14 & Up

A Review by Frankie Paiva The 12 Year-Old Movie Reviewer E-Mail me at SwpStke@aol.com Visit my website at http://www.homestead.com/teenagemoviecritic/mainpage.html

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