Space Cowboys

Day 136 - 5/16/09 - Movie #135

BEFORE: Another star-studded space travel film - this one with Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, James Cromwell, and James Garner. I did take a break midway through this film - I watched the set-up, then we took a drive up to the Empire Casino in Yonkers, ate at the buffet and spent some time at the slots - but it didn't affect my enjoyment of this film. Let's hear it for the "pause" feature on the DVD player...

THE PLOT: When a retired engineer is called upon to rescue a failing satellite, he insists that his equally old teammates accompany him into space.

AFTER: Grizzled veteran with a grudge and something to prove? Check. A ragtag bunch of misfits that have to put aside their differences and work together? Check. A longshot plan to fix a satellite that's so damn crazy that it just...might...work? Check. Sure, they're cliches, but this film was still darn entertaining. I suppose this was made with the boomer generation in mind - to prove that the over-65 set is a viable part of the workforce, and a profitable movie-going demographic. But the film still made space travel exciting again, in a very back-to-basics way.

I particularly enjoyed the opening scenes, with younger actors playing the younger versions of Eastwood, Jones, and Sutherland's characters. This was very well-cast, and the stars' voices were dubbed in perfectly - I couldn't spot any sync problems, anyway - and I thought it really helped to show their backstory as test pilots. It was also good to see Courtney Vance in a supporting role, playing with the big dogs. NOT good to see Marcia Gay Harden's unfortunate hairstyle.

RATING: 8 out of 10 booster rockets.