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The Movie:  "Space Cowboys" concludes with a really impressive last 40 minutes. It's the 90 minutes of buildup before that which is a very long trip. I really liked Clint Eastwood's last film, the underappreciated True Crime, which was smart, occasionally funny, sad, dramatic, thrilling and emotional, with great characters. "Space Cowboys" is probably his biggest film, and although he goes through it like the great professional he is, there are some things that come close to sinking the film. Of course, the film is going to be compared to "Armageddon" or called "Armageddon" for the older crowd. The film has more of solid story and better elements than "Armageddon", but the screenplay can't help from including a few bits that seem similar. There's a lot of: "You've got to use my guys." "Why?" "Cause they're the best." "Why are they the best?" "Cause they're my guys." The film opens in the 50's with Team Daedalus preparing to go up in Space. They include Frank Corvin (Eastwood), Tank Sullivan(James Gardner), Hawk Hawkins(Tommy Lee Jones) and Jerry O'Neil(Donald Sutherland). Their boss, Bob Gerson(James Cromwell) not only shuts them down, but throws the additional insult: a chimp will be taking their place in the shuttle mission. 40 years later, the team must be re-united when the Russian satellite Icon begins to slowly fall out of the sky. An older satellite, Frank finds out that his designs got into the making of it, and he's the only one that can go up in space and repair it. He'll only do it if his team can be brought back together to join him on the flight. Fine - but they all must pass the training program. This is where "Space Cowboys" nearly stalls before it can lift off of the launching pad. The film takes at least 20 minutes to get the team back together, then about another 45 minutes to an hour with the training process. The film goes about as far as it can go with developing the characters, then after that - it begins to repeat itself. Right when I almost gave up on the movie, it begins to get going. The group, which now includes 2 additional team members, lifts off into space on their repair mission and find a rather shocking suprise, which I definitely won't ruin here. This 40 minute piece of the film is exciting, fast and entertaining. The special effects are used just right, and many are impressive. I just can't help but feel though, that the film would have worked better as a whole had we not sat through the excessively long opening. The actors certainly do help, though. Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones are quite good, and although the running joke with him trying to meet women is funny only once, Donald Sutherland is good, as well. James Gardner doesn't get much of a part, and there are times where he simply seems like he's along for the ride. Same goes for the two younger team members, who are fairly thin as characters. "Space Cowboys" isn't bad. But there are definite scenes that could have easily been cut out without harming the film; in fact, about 25 minutes taken out in the begining would have seriously helped the entire film. The actors certainly try their best though, and it's their performances that make "Space Cowboys" worth seeing. A light recommendation. Purchase @ Amazon.com: Clint Eastwood DVDs @ amazon.com |