Review Date: Aug. 7, 2000
Directed by: Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Clint Eastwood (Frank Corvin)
Tommy Lee Jones (Hawk Hawkins)
Donald Sutherland (Jerry O'Nell)
James Garner (Tank Sullivan)
James Cromwell (Bob Gerson)
Marcia Gay Harden (Sara Holland)
Rating: PG-13

Almost every child goes through a stage where they want nothing more than to be an astronaut when they grow up. For most that stage is short lived, but for some that stage never goes away. It is this idea that is at the heart of director Clint Eastwood's latest film, Space Cowboys, a tale of four ageing Air Force pilots who get a second chance to do what they wanted to do most for over forty years, go into space.

Eastwood stars as Frank Corvin, the leader of a former group of test pilots know as Team Daedalus. After making it as close as can possibly be to space without actually being there, the program was disbanded in 1958 in favor of NASA. Upon this occurrence Frank and the other three members of the crew Hawk (Tommy Lee Jones), Jerry (Donald Sutherland) and Tank (James Garner) went their own separate ways. Frank went on to become a great early engineer for NASA by designing the guidance system for the Skylab project. The film then fast-forwards to the present, where a serious situation has occurred with a former USSR satellite that is loosing its orbit and will soon crash into earth. You're probably thinking what's the big deal about one Soviet satellite, but that big deal is eventually revealed in one of the film's bigger payoffs. Anyway, the Soviet satellite mysteriously runs on the same guidance system as Skylab, which is so old that no one at NASA can understand it and in one of the film's funnier ongoing jokes, everyone that could once understand it is now dead. Their ultimate solution is to get Frank to fix it.

Frank smells something fishy in all of this and as a result plays out the situation as best he can. So well in fact, that he is able to get NASA top dog Bob Gerson (James Cromwell), the same official who stopped Frank from making it to space in the first place, to allow him and the rest of Team Daedalus to go into space in exchange for his being able to fix the problem. Frank then goes out to gather up Tank, now a minister, Jerry, a roller coaster engineer with a heavy sex drive, and Hawk, a high-risk pilot who hasn't spoken to Frank for years. The crew then goes through the rigorous training that is needed for them to go into space, which provides the film's biggest laughs. The film provides a lot of them, and as you would expect, the vast majority of which surround their age. Unlike most of this summer's other comedies Space Cowboys is able to be funny without being downright cruel, as the film's humor is more of a case of us laughing with the members of the crew than our laughing at them. The members of the crew are old; they know it and are as willing to accept it just as the audience does.

After the training has been completed, a few plot twists here and there, and a few side stories such as the relationships between Frank and Hawk, Frank and Gerson, and Hawk and a NASA official played by Marcia Gay Harden, the launch date finally arrives. Its here were the film sheds its light-heartiness as it takes itself much more seriously while in space. The space scenes are toned down in comparison to those seen as of late in recent space films, but at the same time still amazing nonetheless. The film doesn't go special effects heavy, but instead uses just what is necessary to make it seem so real. This same relative simplicity was also quite noticeable in the film's opening air sequence, which like the space scenes is also very effective in making a big impact despite not going overboard. At the same time, I also had some problems understanding exactly what was going on during the space mission as parts went unexplained while the angles of certain shots also added to the confusion of the action at hand. Also hurting the scene was the situation back in Houston, which didn't help increase tension of the situation. All in all, the space scene was still pretty well done, and certainly a nice change of pace.

Most of the film's performances were all top notch, as one would expect from a cast of this caliber. It's easy to identify the crew, and just as easy to dislike Cromwell's character. My only complaint in this regard is with Garner's character, who just wasn't given enough screen time to really develop when compared to the other three members of the crew.

After viewing the film I couldn't help but think of the similarities to 1998's Armageddon in terms of plot. I enjoyed parts of that film, but felt that it took itself way to seriously in addition to being much too over the top in multiple aspects throughout. Space Cowboys is almost the complete opposite in this regard as it is very toned down, and with a few exceptions, lacks any real seriousness throughout the first 2/3 of the film. While that was more enjoyable than the corniness of Armageddon, it also hurt the film to a certain extent, as it could have really used a few more serious moments here and there to balance itself a little more and to help build up the tension surrounding its final act. Other than that, and the fact that the film doesn't really bring anything new to the table, Space Cowboys provides a very enjoyable experience by succeeding in almost everything it tries to accomplish. And as many science fiction films before it have proven time and time again, Space Cowboys reiterates the fact that sometimes less is more, especially in space.

Rating: 3.0 Stars