Imagine an "Armageddon" where, instead of oil-rigger roughnecks, the fate of the world rests on four geriatric, long since retired Air Force test pilots. That's the plot in a nutshell: A failing Russian satellite running on an archaic American guidance system must get back to full capacity, and the only man capable of correcting it is flinty former Air Force officer Frank Corvin (Clint Eastwood).
His decades-old grudge against a NASA bureaucrat (James Cromwell) flares to full burn and inspires him to a brilliant bit of blackmail: he'll help, but only if he and his 1958 flight team man the shuttle themselves. Forty years after they were cheated out of their space shot, Frank's posse is ready to ride out of the atmosphere -- as long as they can keep up with NASA's young hotshots.


Clint Eastwood, left, is a flinty -- what else? -- former Air Force officer who comes to NASA's rescue along with pals including Tommy Lee Jones.
This leads to the expected round of jocular humor and old codger gags (which Clint, with a face more mummified than wrinkled, can pull off with little more than a raised eyebrow and a curled lip) and a rekindling of the ridiculous macho chest-thumping competition between Frank and his cocky old daredevil buddy Hawk (Tommy Lee Jones). Also along for the ride are Tank (James Garner), now an absent-minded minister, and Jerry (Donald Sutherland), a structural engineer who builds roller coasters by day and charms sweet young things by night.

Eastwood the director segues nicely from the jogging pace of the training sessions to the ramped-up, adrenaline-pumped thrill of the space adventure, where all the whispered conspiracies are revealed in a (hardly surprising) world-threatening twist.

Tommy Lee Jones

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