Amidst a time when special effects action blockbusters fill the silver screen, Clint Eastwood brings us this fun film. I do not really know what to categorize this movie as. It�s not a comedy� or an action film� or a sci-fi, though it does contain elements of each. Basically, it�s just fun, and that�s good enough for me.
I must say that from this opening scene I knew I was going to like this movie. The film opens on glorious black and white 1958, when �the wrong stuff� guys are messing around with their jets and each other. I believe black and white is wonderful and not used as much as it can be to bring out some artistic beauty in film. But, this is just the first joy of the opening. The biggest highlight was Clint Eastwood�s brilliance in deciding to find look-alike young actors to fill the roles and to use the older actors� voices. From this you could actually find yourself believing that the scenes were shot 40 years ago and that this is just the longest film ever in production. However, it wasn�t and it�s just Clint Eastwood�s clever direction. The story continues with the pilots being publicly humiliated when a monkey is chosen to go into space over them.
Flash forward 40 years and NASA is having satellite trouble. Of course the only person old enough, and still alive, to know what to do with the obsolete instructions is Clint Eastwood�s Frank. Being screwed over by NASA before he decides to use a little blackmail to get his old group together to go into space. These are not your typical geriatrics. First there is Tank, James Garner, the reverend who can�t keep the attention of his congregation. Next is Jerry, Donald Sutherland, the blind-as-a-bat ladies� man. Last is Hawk, Tommy Lee Jones, the daredevil who was far too dangerous for Frank. After the group is round up, they head to NASA where they are to take Armageddon-style training and forced to endure the harassment of the egocentric, brown-nosing younger astronauts, led by Ethan Glance, Mumford�s Loren Dean. Eventually, after a bit of trouble, they go into space and try to stop the satellite from crashing with even more trouble.
Clint Eastwood is usually pretty enjoyable and it was nice to see Tommy Lee Jones not playing a hard-ass old codger, but the biggest joys of the movie for me were Donald Sutherland and James Cromwell. I am a huge fan of both of these men and believe them to be very talented. In this film, both of these men are wonderful in their very different roles.
Space Cowboys is a huge surprise for the summer crowd. It came out of nowhere as one of the most enjoyable films this season. It�s opening weekend, this movie opened in second place behind Hollow Man. As I write this, the movie has just come out of its second weekend and tied for first place with the invisible-man thriller. This shows that audiences are getting good word-of-mouth on this film and it has great potential of doing very well. And this movie deserves it. The performances are a joy, the script is witty, and Clint Eastwood�s direction is super. Though it seems just like Armageddon meets Grumpy Old Men, this film is more enjoyable than either of them.
