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Space Cowboys: Special Ed.
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
"Space Cowboys" concludes with a really impressive last 40 minutes. It's the 90 minutes of buildup before that which is a very long trip. I really liked Clint Eastwood's last film, the underappreciated True Crime, which was smart, occasionally funny, sad, dramatic, thrilling and emotional, with great characters. "Space Cowboys" is probably his biggest film, and although he goes through it like the great professional he is, there are some things that come close to sinking the film.
Of course, the film is going to be compared to "Armageddon" or called "Armageddon" for the older crowd. The film has more of solid story and better elements than "Armageddon", but the screenplay can't help from including a few bits that seem similar. There's a lot of: "You've got to use my guys." "Why?" "Cause they're the best." "Why are they the best?" "Cause they're my guys."
The film opens in the 50's with Team Daedalus preparing to go up in Space. They include Frank Corvin (Eastwood), Tank Sullivan(James Gardner), Hawk Hawkins(Tommy Lee Jones) and Jerry O'Neil(Donald Sutherland). Their boss, Bob Gerson(James Cromwell) not only shuts them down, but throws the additional insult: a chimp will be taking their place in the shuttle mission.
40 years later, the team must be re-united when the Russian satellite Icon begins to slowly fall out of the sky. An older satellite, Frank finds out that his designs got into the making of it, and he's the only one that can go up in space and repair it. He'll only do it if his team can be brought back together to join him on the flight. Fine - but they all must pass the training program.
This is where "Space Cowboys" nearly stalls before it can lift off of the launching pad. The film takes at least 20 minutes to get the team back together, then about another 45 minutes to an hour with the training process. The film goes about as far as it can go with developing the characters, then after that - it begins to repeat itself. Right when I almost gave up on the movie, it begins to get going. The group, which now includes 2 additional team members, lifts off into space on their repair mission and find a rather shocking suprise, which I definitely won't ruin here.
This 40 minute piece of the film is exciting, fast and entertaining. The special effects are used just right, and many are impressive. I just can't help but feel though, that the film would have worked better as a whole had we not sat through the excessively long opening. The actors certainly do help, though. Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones are quite good, and although the running joke with him trying to meet women is funny only once, Donald Sutherland is good, as well. James Gardner doesn't get much of a part, and there are times where he simply seems like he's along for the ride. Same goes for the two younger team members, who are fairly thin as characters.
"Space Cowboys" isn't bad. But there are definite scenes that could have easily been cut out without harming the film; in fact, about 25 minutes taken out in the first half would have seriously helped the entire film. The actors certainly try their best though, and it's their performances that make "Space Cowboys" worth seeing.
The DVD
VIDEO: Warner Brothers has provided some presentations recently that have been close to flawless with only a few very minimal exceptions. Although their work for "Space Cowboys" doesn't quite reach that level of excellence, it's still a very strong effort. Sharpness and detail appeared strong throughout the movie - there were a few minor bits of softness here and there, but for the most part, the movie looked crisp and clear.
The film's begining, taking place in the past when the characters were young, has a rather blueish tint to it. I could have sworn that it was more grey in the theaters and in the trailer (it even looks grey in the trailer included on the DVD). I found this to be a strange occurence. Maybe I'm wrong about how it should look, but evidence seemed to prove otherwise (the visual effects supervisor in the "Effects" featurette also says "these scenes are in black and white"). Aside from this small part, the rest of the movie looked no different than I'd remembered it when I saw it in the theater.
Anyways, besides that oddity, there didn't seem to be much in the way of flaws throughout the DVD presentation. There were some minor print flaws - slight speckles, grit and a mark or two were visible, but the level of these problems is definitely under the level I would consider excessive for a newer film. Pixelation is absent, but slight shimmering does appear a couple of instances during the running time.
Colors seemed strong - although the offices that many of the scenes early on take place in are rather bland looking, brighter colors occasionally do pop up amidst the subtle backgrounds. Overall, aside from the possible difference in the opening sequence, this is a very enjoyable presentation from Warner. An A- , but I will be looking into the look of the opening scene.
SOUND: "Space Cowboys" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. With the exception of the begining and the last 40 minutes of the picture, the sound remains rather subtle, mainly a music and dialogue-driven affair. One must question a choice at the begining of the film, though - to have the "young" versions of the characters have their lines read by the actors who play the older versions. It's decently dubbed, but strange.
Surrounds are still used fairly actively during the main body of the film, but the last half when the crew actually goes into space contains the majority of the agressive sound use as surround use becomes heavier and more effective. Bass is occasionally heavy during the most intense scenes of the picture, but bass never reaches wall-shaking proportions during the film. The score sounded very good throughout the movie, but remained a fairly limited presence. Dialogue sounded easily heard and smooth throughout, always easily understood.
MENUS:: An animated clip takes us into the main menu for "Space Cowboys", which has some slight animation in the form of clips in the background. Sub-menus are non-animated, but still use film-themed images nicely.
EXTRAS:
Behind-The-Scenes: This is a very good 27 minute documentary that takes the viewer behind-the-scenes of the making of "Space Cowboys". Although there a lot of interviews and some clips, there are also some very interesting bits such as watching a special effects scene being filmed on stage and then cutting to the scene in the final film. The interviews tend to be a little bit oriented towards telling the story, but there are some fun stories to be told about what's going on on-set, and the actors seem to be having a good time with the big-budget proceedings, The interview with the wonderful cinematograher Jack Green is definitely informative, as are the insights from the other crew members (as well as some NASA folks) who give their thoughts on their role in the film. Worth a look.
The Effects: Although many scenes of "Space Cowboys" are rather character/dialogue-driven, the last piece of the film in space has some wonderful visual effects by ILM (Industrial Light & Magic). Visual Effects supervisor Michael Owens discusses the visual effects that were required for the opening seqence and also, the film's journey into space. This featurette lasts for about 7 minutes.
Up Close With The Editor: Since I've made my feelings known about the editing in the film review, I won't go into them here discussing this interview with editor Joel Cox. He discusses the obstacles in having to have to put all of these massive big-budget sequences together and also talks about how some of the effects work was done.
Tonight With Leno: This featurette includes the full footage that was shot with Jay Leno for the movie as well as some interview footage with the host.
Also: Cast/Crew Bios, Theatrical Trailer(2.0).
Final Thoughts: "Space Cowboys" is an entertaining feature that has a great, exciting last 40 minutes or so, but takes noticably too long to get started. Warner Brothers provides their usual fine presentation (although I'm still wondering about the look of the begining) in terms of audio/video quality. Although it's unfortunate that we couldn't get a commentary from Clint or the other members of the cast, the four featurettes are fine.
"Space Cowboys" concludes with a really impressive last 40 minutes. It's the 90 minutes of buildup before that which is a very long trip. I really liked Clint Eastwood's last film, the underappreciated True Crime, which was smart, occasionally funny, sad, dramatic, thrilling and emotional, with great characters. "Space Cowboys" is probably his biggest film, and although he goes through it like the great professional he is, there are some things that come close to sinking the film.
Of course, the film is going to be compared to "Armageddon" or called "Armageddon" for the older crowd. The film has more of solid story and better elements than "Armageddon", but the screenplay can't help from including a few bits that seem similar. There's a lot of: "You've got to use my guys." "Why?" "Cause they're the best." "Why are they the best?" "Cause they're my guys."
The film opens in the 50's with Team Daedalus preparing to go up in Space. They include Frank Corvin (Eastwood), Tank Sullivan(James Gardner), Hawk Hawkins(Tommy Lee Jones) and Jerry O'Neil(Donald Sutherland). Their boss, Bob Gerson(James Cromwell) not only shuts them down, but throws the additional insult: a chimp will be taking their place in the shuttle mission.
40 years later, the team must be re-united when the Russian satellite Icon begins to slowly fall out of the sky. An older satellite, Frank finds out that his designs got into the making of it, and he's the only one that can go up in space and repair it. He'll only do it if his team can be brought back together to join him on the flight. Fine - but they all must pass the training program.
This is where "Space Cowboys" nearly stalls before it can lift off of the launching pad. The film takes at least 20 minutes to get the team back together, then about another 45 minutes to an hour with the training process. The film goes about as far as it can go with developing the characters, then after that - it begins to repeat itself. Right when I almost gave up on the movie, it begins to get going. The group, which now includes 2 additional team members, lifts off into space on their repair mission and find a rather shocking suprise, which I definitely won't ruin here.
This 40 minute piece of the film is exciting, fast and entertaining. The special effects are used just right, and many are impressive. I just can't help but feel though, that the film would have worked better as a whole had we not sat through the excessively long opening. The actors certainly do help, though. Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones are quite good, and although the running joke with him trying to meet women is funny only once, Donald Sutherland is good, as well. James Gardner doesn't get much of a part, and there are times where he simply seems like he's along for the ride. Same goes for the two younger team members, who are fairly thin as characters.
"Space Cowboys" isn't bad. But there are definite scenes that could have easily been cut out without harming the film; in fact, about 25 minutes taken out in the first half would have seriously helped the entire film. The actors certainly try their best though, and it's their performances that make "Space Cowboys" worth seeing.
The DVD
VIDEO: Warner Brothers has provided some presentations recently that have been close to flawless with only a few very minimal exceptions. Although their work for "Space Cowboys" doesn't quite reach that level of excellence, it's still a very strong effort. Sharpness and detail appeared strong throughout the movie - there were a few minor bits of softness here and there, but for the most part, the movie looked crisp and clear.
The film's begining, taking place in the past when the characters were young, has a rather blueish tint to it. I could have sworn that it was more grey in the theaters and in the trailer (it even looks grey in the trailer included on the DVD). I found this to be a strange occurence. Maybe I'm wrong about how it should look, but evidence seemed to prove otherwise (the visual effects supervisor in the "Effects" featurette also says "these scenes are in black and white"). Aside from this small part, the rest of the movie looked no different than I'd remembered it when I saw it in the theater.
Anyways, besides that oddity, there didn't seem to be much in the way of flaws throughout the DVD presentation. There were some minor print flaws - slight speckles, grit and a mark or two were visible, but the level of these problems is definitely under the level I would consider excessive for a newer film. Pixelation is absent, but slight shimmering does appear a couple of instances during the running time.
Colors seemed strong - although the offices that many of the scenes early on take place in are rather bland looking, brighter colors occasionally do pop up amidst the subtle backgrounds. Overall, aside from the possible difference in the opening sequence, this is a very enjoyable presentation from Warner. An A- , but I will be looking into the look of the opening scene.
SOUND: "Space Cowboys" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. With the exception of the begining and the last 40 minutes of the picture, the sound remains rather subtle, mainly a music and dialogue-driven affair. One must question a choice at the begining of the film, though - to have the "young" versions of the characters have their lines read by the actors who play the older versions. It's decently dubbed, but strange.
Surrounds are still used fairly actively during the main body of the film, but the last half when the crew actually goes into space contains the majority of the agressive sound use as surround use becomes heavier and more effective. Bass is occasionally heavy during the most intense scenes of the picture, but bass never reaches wall-shaking proportions during the film. The score sounded very good throughout the movie, but remained a fairly limited presence. Dialogue sounded easily heard and smooth throughout, always easily understood.
MENUS:: An animated clip takes us into the main menu for "Space Cowboys", which has some slight animation in the form of clips in the background. Sub-menus are non-animated, but still use film-themed images nicely.
EXTRAS:
Behind-The-Scenes: This is a very good 27 minute documentary that takes the viewer behind-the-scenes of the making of "Space Cowboys". Although there a lot of interviews and some clips, there are also some very interesting bits such as watching a special effects scene being filmed on stage and then cutting to the scene in the final film. The interviews tend to be a little bit oriented towards telling the story, but there are some fun stories to be told about what's going on on-set, and the actors seem to be having a good time with the big-budget proceedings, The interview with the wonderful cinematograher Jack Green is definitely informative, as are the insights from the other crew members (as well as some NASA folks) who give their thoughts on their role in the film. Worth a look.
The Effects: Although many scenes of "Space Cowboys" are rather character/dialogue-driven, the last piece of the film in space has some wonderful visual effects by ILM (Industrial Light & Magic). Visual Effects supervisor Michael Owens discusses the visual effects that were required for the opening seqence and also, the film's journey into space. This featurette lasts for about 7 minutes.
Up Close With The Editor: Since I've made my feelings known about the editing in the film review, I won't go into them here discussing this interview with editor Joel Cox. He discusses the obstacles in having to have to put all of these massive big-budget sequences together and also talks about how some of the effects work was done.
Tonight With Leno: This featurette includes the full footage that was shot with Jay Leno for the movie as well as some interview footage with the host.
Also: Cast/Crew Bios, Theatrical Trailer(2.0).
Final Thoughts: "Space Cowboys" is an entertaining feature that has a great, exciting last 40 minutes or so, but takes noticably too long to get started. Warner Brothers provides their usual fine presentation (although I'm still wondering about the look of the begining) in terms of audio/video quality. Although it's unfortunate that we couldn't get a commentary from Clint or the other members of the cast, the four featurettes are fine.
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