Movie Review - Space Cowboys

Space Cowboys
Warner Brothers
2000
Reviewed by William I. Lengeman III
(previously unpublished)

Very Short Review
Grumpy Old Men in space.

Slightly Longer Review
Most science fiction - book, film, or TV show - requires at least one instance in which we're required to suspend our disbelief in order to stay the course.

Space Cowboys could hardly be called science fiction, but there are rocket ships zooming about and square-jawed types and the plot causes one to engage in some fairly vigorous disbelief suspending.

Clint Eastwood leads the cast - and directs - as a group of four astronauts (Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, James Garner) who didn't make it into space the first time around get together forty years later to try again. The mission - prevent a satellite from crashing to Earth, using knowledge that apparently no one but Eastwood possesses.

If you can get past the flimsy fictional framework that results in these geezers ending up in orbit, you'll soon realize that things play out almost exactly like you'd expect. Almost, that is, except for two reasonably clever plot twists.

Not a dud, but perhaps not quite a cinematic masterwork. Space Cowboys probably isn't going to land on anyone's list of best films, but there are certainly worse ways to burn up a few hours.

Copyright 2007, William I. Lengeman III