Frank Corvin, ‘Hawk’ Hawkins, Jerry O'Neill and ‘Tank’ Sullivan were hotdog members of Project Daedalus, the Air Force's test program for space travel, but their hopes were dashed in 1958 with the formation of NASA and the use of trained chimps. They blackmail their way into orbit when Russia's mysterious ‘Ikon’ communications satellite's orbit begins to degrade and threatens to crash to Earth.
Something just doesn't quite feel right about 'Space Cowboys'.
It's good, but it always feels like it's stuck in second gear to me. I was anticipating more based on the cast, but even they are a little underwhelming. it's relative to what I was expecting, as Eastwood is still solid, Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland too, and the plot is satisfactory; even if I would've shaved off 15-25 minutes. An interesting piece of casting, btw, is the film debut of one Jon Hamm.
Borderline forgettable, but nothing bad. It narrowly gets a 3* rating from yours truly.