“The Astronaut,” directed by Jess Varley, is certainly a film; kind of like how bugs are certainly edible. It is a film, but that does not make it good, or even interesting. Though, to give the movie credit, it finally engaged me near the end for all the wrong reasons.
The film stars big names like Kate Mara who plays Astronaut Sam Walker, Laurence Fishburne as General William Harris who is Sam’s adoptive father, and Gaberiel Luna as Mark Sam’s husband who is raising their adopted daughter.
The film starts out with Sam crash landing in the ocean and waking up in the hospital. The doctors say something hit her shuttle causing the accident, though she does not remember. Sam is moved to a house close to the NASA base which the military owns on the recommendation of her father. Sam begins to see objects floating and has headaches but keeps it from her doctors as she wants to be able to complete another mission.
Later, her father reveals that the house is actually a safe house which includes a lockdown mechanism. Strange things begin to happen as Sam continues to see floating objects, have headaches, and notice figures lurking in and around the property.
None of this is interesting. I was so incredibly bored for two-thirds of this movie. There were two things that kept me engaged: The fact the movie had about six different studios attached to it for some unknown reason, and the stupid ending that had me cringing in the year 2025.
No one is watching this movie as it only grossed around $17k according to IMDb, so I will explain the ending. At the end, it is revealed that aliens crashed into her ship, which is pretty predictable. The twist, though, is that Sam herself is an alien who camouflaged as a human when the military was trying to capture escaped aliens. That is how her father adopted her; he found her.
Further, her father knew she was an alien, and it is heavily implied that he encouraged her to be an astronaut so it would lure the aliens back to earth. While all of this is happening, Sam is turning back into her alien form. Mark eventually tackles her father, allowing her to escape with her alien family. What was Jesse Varley thinking when he was writing the script and directing the movie? That, I am unable to tell you.
The music is fine, the atmosphere is fine, and the effects are fine. The acting is strange, almost disjointed, and as explained, the plot is just totally nuts. Do not waste your time. Go watch anything else, watch “Life.” It came out in 2017, and it is actually set in space. It is not particularly scary or thrilling despite the fact that the film is labeled as horror. The aliens just look really goofy too, it is very funny. It makes one wonder about how a film like this gets thought of, approved, directed, and released. Overall, I would give “The Astronaut” a 4.1 out of 10; a charitable score I might add.