Stars: Johnny Depp, Charlize Theron
In “The Astronaut’s Wife”, Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron provide decent suspense in this cross between “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Alien” but the story’s a bit fuzzy around the edges.
Depp plays Commander Spencer Armacost a hot shot astronaut who gets lost in space for 2 minutes along with his co-pilot, Captain Alex Streck. No one knows what horrors they’ve seen when out of touch with ground control as they floated around their command module making repairs. But they are not exactly normal once they’re back on the ground. Streck suffers heart problems, is testy and paranoid; Armacost likes rough sex all of a sudden and then there’s the little thing of listening to static on his radio. Spooky.
Jillian Armacost (Theron) notices differences in her husband’s behavior and her suspicions get out of hand when she conceives.
I don’t want to ruin things for the audience. Let’s just say that Depp goes from mellow lover to malevolent fairly quickly and does a good job at it.
Look for good acting and suspense but as far as the story’s concerned, there’s a good bit of confusion surrounding the alien’s motivations.
Lotta says: Charlize Theron should be wary of scripts that have her character moving to New York; she didn’t fare too well in “The Devil’s Advocate either.