SPACE COWBOYS (2000) / ** 1/2
Directed by Clint Eastwood. Screenplay by Ken Kaufman and Howard Klausner. Starring Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, James Garner. Running time: 130 minutes. Rated PG for mild language and mature theme by the MFCB. Reviewed on August 7th, 2000.
By SHANNON PATRICK SULLIVAN
There's always a certain appeal to a movie which brings together a group of favorite actors. Regardless of the quality of the plot, the direction, or whatever, there's an undeniable charm to watching stars of the screen interact -- and the more, the merrier. A lot of it, I suppose, stems from sheer fanboyishness (or fangirlishness, as appropriate). It's the same spirit that makes us laugh with glee at, say, the "Stalag 17" references in "Chicken Run". But it's also an acknowledgment of the class and skill these actors bring to their profession, and of the enormous potential that their banding together seems to promise.
"Space Cowboys" is this kind of movie, its big gimmick being the union of several of Hollywood's top retirement-age actors. Headlining the film are Clint Eastwood (70 years old), James Garner (72), Donald Sutherland (65) and Tommy Lee Jones (still practically a baby at 53), joined by James Cromwell (60) and William Devane (59). Eastwood plays Frank Corvin, former member of Team Daedalus, a group of Air Force pilots who, in the 1950s, were designated as the first men to fly into space. Then NASA was formed and claimed the space program for itself, and Team Daedalus was permanently grounded. Forty years later, a Russian satellite malfunctions and slowly begins to plunge Earthward. The guidance system on board is so old that none of NASA's current crop of engineers can understand it, let alone construct software to interact with it, so project engineer Sarah Holland (Marcia Gay Harden) turns to its designer -- Frank -- for assistance.
Frank will help NASA on one condition: that he and the rest of Team Daedalus be on board the space shuttle sent into orbit to repair the ailing satellite. Grudgingly, Sarah's boss Bob Gerson (Cromwell) -- an old nemesis of Frank's -- agrees to the scheme ("You sent up Glenn!" argues Corvin). So Frank begins tracking down his former mates, including "Tank" Sullivan (Garner), now a fumbling Baptist minister; Jerry O'Nell (Sutherland), a roller coaster designer with inch-thick glasses; and "Hawk" Hawkins (Jones), whom Frank blames for the dissolution of Team Daedalus. But in order to succeed at their mission, the oldtimers must confront ageism on the ground and, worse, a deadly Russian secret awaiting them in space.
What "Space Cowboys" does right, most of all, is that it collects together a group of actors who know what they're doing. Eastwood, Jones, Garner and Sutherland have starred in their share of classics, and they have more than a few duds between them as well. But they're all classy veterans, entertaining to watch regardless of the situation. There is a nice chemistry between them which overcomes the relative paucity of their actual characters. Indeed, more thought seems to have been given to Team Daedalus as a group than to each of the individual members, who are painted only in broad strokes. Sutherland is the ladies' man. Jones is the wise guy. Eastwood is... well, Clint Eastwood, basically. They are fun to watch, certainly, but there's not a lot of meat on their old bones, metaphorically speaking.
This lack of characterisation extends to the supporting cast as well. Particularly poor is Loren Dean, who plays astronaut Ethan Vance as though he's a high school jock rather than a professional scientist ("I have two Masters degrees!" he squeals at one point). Vance and Cromwell's Gerson exist purely as opponents for the Daedalus crew; they are defined only in relation to how they complicate the heroes' lives. There is little motivation to their actions, and as a result -- when the rather predictable truth about the Russian satellite is revealed -- they come off looking pretty inept. Harden, meanwhile, is strong in her early scenes, but is mostly pushed toward the background in the second half. Her romance with Jones' character feels contrived and lacks chemistry, seemingly inserted only because the movie would otherwise lack a romantic subplot.
The screenplay, by Ken Kaufman and Howard Klausner, starts off well enough while the astronauts are still on the ground. Certainly, there are plenty of laughs -- witness Jones taking a dim-witted teenager for a wild airplane ride, for example. But the going is slow, and the whole thing plays out all too convenient. For instance, the oldtimers overcome a plot by Gerson to keep them on the ground not through any action of their own, but instead thanks to the fortuitous presence of a press photographer.
Things get both better and worse once the action finally moves into space. Better, because we get to witness some beautiful special effects shots of the astronauts in space. Perhaps inspired in part by "2001", these are quiet and majestic; the scene where Frank spins around to watch the Earth revolving beneath him is simply gorgeous. This is one case where the movie's lackadaisical pacing is to its advantage. There is a real sensation of the weightlessness and absolute silence of deep space.
Unfortunately, the plot also becomes even more of a routine, by-the-numbers exercise, coming across like a sort of dumbed-down "Apollo 13" (I was tempted to say "Armageddon", but nothing could be that dumb). The ending is dull and cliched. There is no effort to provide a clever or insightful conclusion to the character arc of the Daedalus teammembers; instead, we just get another climax where it's up to the underdogs to save the day.
Ultimately, "Space Cowboys" relies too much on the hook of seeing all these venerable actors together, as opposed to good old-fashioned storytelling and characterisation. Matters are not helped by director Eastwood's pacing, which is more geriatric than the picture's stars. It has its moments -- the middle third of the film is particularly delightful -- and certainly exudes more charm in its first twenty minutes than in the entire running time of most of today's teen flicks. But, like those early efforts to reach Earth's orbit, "Space Cowboys" just never builds enough momentum to work.
Copyright © 2000 Shannon Patrick Sullivan. Archived at The Popcorn Gallery, http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies/SpaceCowboys.html
_______________________________________________________________________ / Shannon Patrick Sullivan | "We are all in the gutter, but some of us \ | shannon@mun.ca | are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde | \___________________________|__________________________________________/ | Popcorn Gallery Movie Reviews www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies.html | | Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel) /drwho.html |
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews