This has one of the all time great ideas for an action film, at least one with older stars – a satellite breaks down and only some old codgers can fix it. As my mate Jed said when we saw it “Every 50 year old bloke in the world who sees this is going to go ‘Yep. I could do that.’” And enough did for it to be a hit.
It's a fantastic idea and Clint Eastwood and Donald Sutherland come to the party; I wish James Garner had been given more to do (its not his fault) and Tommy Lee Jones is too young (surely they could have gotten some other old guy acceptable to the financiers... Paul Newman, Gene Hackman?).
Like many Clint movies it could do with a bit of fat trimming – some if it is downright lazy like when William Devane talks about the hero’s chances of getting back as being nil... when we know they’re going to get back OK, they’re the heroes. Why “nil”? Why not “ten percent”? But the central idea is strong and the romanticism of space travel is well evoked.
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