Astronaut: The Last Push

An American sci-fi adventure. A story about an astronaut who has to make a three-year journey home to Earth, cutting short the first manned mission to explore the moons of Jupiter. This is a low-budget film that aims to create the sense of isolation, boredom, and mental wellbeing of an astronaut on a deep space mission on a theme about solitude; it produces a modicum of intrigue. To a degree it succeeds, but it dwells too much on the boredom of the astronaut with too many blank frames and scenes that feel like overkill. In fact, the inaction draws attention to some inaccuracies and inconsistencies of the staging, like the space capsule design and the conditions of habitation. Khary Payton does a reasonably good job portraying a man near breaking point, but the other performances are not so inspiring; the astronauts did not seem to be the type of personalities for deep space endurance; the contrast between the two personalities was not done with much subtlety, and the ground staff didn't seem to match up to the professionalism we might expect of highly technical aeronautical flight direction staff. Although the story is thought-provoking, it leaves some unanswered questions, and it ends with a weak excuse for a plot twist. But there is a spectacular scene showing Venus's atmosphere, and the sound effects and music add a lot to the story's mood and tone.