Martin Sheen was the highlight of this film without a doubt. His portrayal of ex-astronaut Paul Andrews was very believable and also very emotionally charged, one could really feel for this man and all that he had been through. The scene when he drunkenly revealed some of his innermost feelings was exceptional, as was the confrontation between him and the ex-NASA engineer. Christian Slater as the 18-year old who wants to become an astronaut had some good moments, particularly in the conflicts with his father, but his romance with Mara was unconvincing. The other characters were more like cardboard cutouts, apart from the Whale Man (F Murray Abraham) in a cameo role. My only real criticism however was the ending - yes, we knew right from the opening sequence that there was something that Sheen had discovered on the moon, but the ending took the film into improbable sci-fi, which did not fit well with the believable realism of the rest of the story.
Review of Beyond the Stars
