Space Cowboys.

Review #1252: Space Cowboys.

Cast: 
Clint Eastwood (Frank Corvin), Tommy Lee Jones (William "Hawk" Hawkins), Donald Sutherland (Jerry O'Neill), James Garner ("Tank" Sullivan), Marcia Gay Harden (Sara Holland), William Devane (Flight Director Eugene "Gene" Davis), Loren Dean (Ethan Glance), Courtney B. Vance (Roger Hines), James Cromwell (Bob Gerson), Rade Šerbedžija (General Vostov), and Barbara Babcock (Barbara Corvin) Directed by Clint Eastwood.

Review: 
This is one of those films that exists to deliver adventure for a certain kind of audience that surely is interested in seeing some entertainment without any rough challenges and a few visual winners. It runs at 130 minutes, but it sure seems to want to be familiar with predictable leanings that its main core four actors are up to making seem fun to sit with. After all, if John Glenn (fighter/test pilot turned astronaut turned U.S Senator) could be sent into outer space at the ripe age of 77, why not send four old pilots (with Garner being the oldest at 72 on release) into space to fix a secret satellite? Even the challenge of getting these folks up to speed with training (in 30 days, no less - for which publicity for this mission only comes in two weeks before launch) doesn't really seem to faze anybody in the film, especially not the audience. It does fall in the lines of a popcorn movie in that if you really wanted to poke a few jabs in its logic (the idea of sending an astronaut with terminal cancer comes to mind), you could, but I was at least entertained enough with what I saw to make this a winner by the margins, primarily because of its cast and effects. At least one cannot fault Eastwood for taking the script from Ken Kaufman-Howard Klausner and rolling with giving the film a bit of light charm in its journey without too many roaring bumps, essentially being the kind of film you could probably watch with your dad or mom and have a good time with (I remember my dad having interest in plenty of Eastwood films, nearly all of which in the bunch qualified as adventures like this), with even a Jay Leno cameo fitting the bill for what one could expect. It has a yearning for what was that certainly has aged a bit (particularly with the end of the Space Shuttle program) but will linger just fine with those who seek it. The effects-work from Industrial Light & Magic is well done as one could expect, capturing the essence of space and the moments that require some wonder and delivers pretty well, where one isn't taken out of the film and its shots of the shuttle or satellite in space because something seems too off-putting or ridiculous. As one would hope, it is the interactions between the core four that drive the film as forward as it wants, particularly when it is between Eastwood and Jones. Eastwood certainly is wiry enough to headline a last hurrah routine with a degree of persistence that only could come out in a mild adventure driven by Eastwood on both sides of the camera. Jones is just as wiry with plenty of rough charm that certainly gets its chance to come out plenty, whether when old wounds open up about who ruined whose shot at going to space or when doing some stunt piloting for an eager birthday man. Sutherland and Garner are both warm and engaging as the other useful cogs in this fairly oiled machine, fitting with what is needed just as one can hope. Harden, Devane, and Cromwell fill the other piece of the pie just fine, doing what needs to be done to further the film (whether it be exposition or occasional character moments with the main four) without bumps on the way. Dean and Vance are okay, but they feel a bit sidetracked when it comes to making any sort of comparison of the old guard (Air Force pilots) and the new type of astronauts, which might have been a bit interesting to go with. In the long run, what we have here is a film that aims for a tolerable standard blend of reality and movie-magic that will certainly feel par for the course in its execution but at least please its crowd just well enough to make things worth it, where the time goes by without too much waste to speak of.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Mission: Impossible 2.

Review #1100: Mission: Impossible 2.

Cast: 
Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt), Thandie Newton (Nyah Nordoff-Hall), Ving Rhames (Luther Stickell), Dougray Scott (Sean Ambrose), Brendan Gleeson (John C. McCloy), Richard Roxburgh (Hugh Stamp), John Polson (Billy Baird), Rade Šerbedžija (Dr. Nekhorvich), and William Mapother (Wallis) Directed by John Woo (#030 - Face/Off and #336 - Broken Arrow)

Review: 
The first film was a fairly decent adventure that managed to juggle its spy elements with a decent story and a capable cast to make for a satisfactory experience, for the most part. Four years later, a sequel was created, with Robert Towne returning to do the screenplay (with the story being done by Ronald D. Moore and Brandon Braga) and Cruise and Rhames returning. It's easy to say that the sequel is not as good as the original movie, feeling like a bit of a letdown in terms of its execution. The action sequences certainly seem to be competing with the plot to see which one can go faster in pace, and it would seem that the action sequences win out in terms of effectiveness. The film seems to enjoy having scenes compete with themselves for most ridiculous, such as a rocket containing sunglasses to deliver exposition that explode into the title sequence, a car chase with reckless action and even more reckless hair, doves flying out of nowhere, and a climax complete with a game of chicken and fights in the sand. I can't really give the writing too much guff since the film at least moves moderately well - up to a point, anyway. The motivations make sense roughly 60% of the time, although the plot-line certainly jumbles itself silly at times.

Cruise does a fine job, keeping this character fairly interesting to watch around, having a degree of confidence to him - complete with the opening shot of him doing rock climbing. Newton is fine, although the writing does sometimes let her down. I find that the scenes with Cruise and Newton don't have too much chemistry with each other, not really seeming any better than what you might see in a James Bond movie, for example, although I would note that if you compared it to the three Bond films released in the 1990s, this one would probably fall in the middle in terms of quality, although it certainly wouldn't beat GoldenEye (1995). Apparently, Woo's original cut was three-and-a-half hours long, so it is evident that something was lost in the process to make the final cut 123 minutes long. I do wonder if the longer cut would've made these characters a bit more interesting than they ended up being, particularly with the villain, although I really can't blame Scott for not being up to task for such a thankless role. It sure is nice to see Rhames, albeit in a less role than the first time around, although he certainly seems more interesting than the other member of the "team" in Polson. Gleeson and Roxburgh prove to be fairly watchable as well. Even though the original one was prone to twisting itself a bit too much, I felt that there was something interesting about where it took itself that worked for the moment, but this film doesn't really to work as handily for the moment, making for a movie that is mildly entertaining but not as good as the previous one. It isn't anything to give too much criticism for, but it also isn't anything to really find loving unless one doesn't have much expectations going in.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.