‘Space Cowboys’ provides suspense, comedy> Eastwood makes up for recent string of duds with help of pals Jones, Sutherland and Garner

In theaters

SPACE COWBOYS, Rated PG-13, 123 minutes, directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Ken Kaufman and Howard A. Klausner.

After Clint Eastwood’s recent run of bad movies (“Absolute Power,” “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” “True Crime”), who knew his latest directorial effort, “Space Cowboys,” would be as good as this?

The film is a treat, a movie that actually relies on the experience of its excellent cast — not to mention the humor and suspense found within its strong script — to lift it far and above anything released last weekend at the cineplex.

For anyone bored with movies cut to look like music videos, this one comes as something of a tonic; there’s an old-fashioned feeling to the production that complements the geriatrics at the core of the story.

Well-structured and smart, “Cowboys” has its share of elaborate special effects, but it wisely balances them with what really matters: a sharp, rousing story that builds tension while, at the same time, mounting a terrific comedy.

The film stars Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner as four pilots of a certain age who are informed by NASA that a giant, Soviet-era communications satellite is hurtling out of orbit — and straight toward Earth.

Since Frank (Eastwood) is the only man alive who understands the technology behind the archaic satellite (he invented it), he calls on his old flight pals, Hawk (Jones), Jerry (Sutherland) and Tank (Garner), to join him on a mission to space to repair the satellite and direct it back into orbit.

The catch? First, each man must pass a grueling physical fitness examination.

Naturally, that’s where this film mines much of its comedy, particularly in a scene where the men are forced to strip down in front of a nurse and bare it all. It’s a scene people will be talking about, especially since Sutherland steals it with — how to put this delicately — his obvious lack of modesty.

With James Cromwell perfectly evil as Frank’s NASA nemesis and Marcia Gray Harden Sweet as a NASA engineer who falls in love with one of the men, the film has several key surprises, but the real shocker whirls high in the sky.

It won’t be revealed here, but know this: The last 45 minutes of “Space Cowboys” is so genuinely riveting and at times unnerving, it’s nice to see that audiences are once again in the hands of pros.

Grade: A-

On video

REINDEER GAMES. Rated R, 99 minutes, directed by John Frankenheimer and written by Ehren Kruger.

John Frankenheimer’s “Reindeer Games” opens with five recently murdered Santa Clauses lying in a bloody heap in freshly fallen snow, which, when I saw the film last February, was reason enough for the man sitting in front of me to lift his arms above his head in a delighted whoop of post-Christmas joy.

As terrific as that opening was to him, the film nevertheless comes off like a present from someone who spends too much time at Spencer Gifts — it initially delights with its novelty, but that novelty eventually loses its shine.

The film is all crosses and double-crosses and pseudo-witty one-liners at the cost of its characters, a lively group of bums who are never explored with any depth because Frankenheimer isn’t focused so much on them as he is on getting through his film’s densely packed script.

At only 99 minutes, there’s so much going on in “Reindeer Games,” so many twists and turns and endless surprises — oh, the endless surprises — that the entire production barely keeps its balance on its bumpy patch of ice.

In brief, the plot: Ben Affleck is Rudy, an ex-con who, when released from prison, starts passing himself off as his former cellmate, Nick (James Frain). He does this because of Nick’s anonymous, torrid letter-writing relationship with Ashley (Charlize Theron), a gorgeous bombshell Rudy quickly decides he wants for himself.

Through a series of convenient contrivances, that’s just what happens: Ashley’s bee-stung lips start rocking Rudy’s world — not Nick’s. But, as Nick, Rudy now finds he must accept everything that comes with being Nick, which not only includes Ashley’s enthusiastic bouts of adoration — oh, those enthusiastic bouts of adoration — but also the presence of Ashley’s sociopathic brother, Gabriel (Gary Sinise), a petty gun runner who conspires to get everyone involved in a ridiculous casino heist.

Set in Michigan, this bit of film noir is certainly well oiled, proving that Frankenheimer hasn’t lost his edge; at 70, the director of “The Manchurian Candidate,” “The French Connection II” and “Ronin” skillfully keeps things moving. It’s what he’s moving that’s the problem — a film that’s layered with so many outlandish plot twists, so many far-fetched surprises, that Santa’s neat bag of tricks eventually becomes Santa’s tired old bag of jokes.

Grade: C+

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Monday and Thursday in the NEWS, and Tuesday and Thursday on “NEWS CENTER at 5:30” and “NEWS CENTER at 11.”