Cowboys and Aliens is a film based on the 2006 graphic novel of the same name by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. The movie is about exactly what it promises...Cowboys and Aliens. Every trailer or mention of the title has illicited snickers from the audience because of the retro 40’s serials, in all their cheesiness, that it pays homage to. However, once one realizes that this is a Steven Speilberg/Ron Howard production and Jon Favreau is directing and the star power of Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig are involved, then one not only takes it seriously, but one starts to get excited. I have to say that this was a worthwhile attempt to be an epic movie and I enjoyed it immensely, but there was definitely something missing. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I did love the mixing of two totally separate genres; Sci-fi and Westerns. It made me wonder why we haven’t seen anything like this before (at least at this scale). What’s the next mix? The King’s Speech meets the Terminator. I would see that in a second.
The part of this film that really works is that it takes itself completely serious. It doesn’t have any knowing winks to the audience or try to parody itself. This is a movie. Quite frankly, I thought the Western part of this story was worth a movie of it’s own. It’s a good Western story (unfortunately out of vogue in today’s Hollywood [True Grit being the exception]) with Aliens being thrown in to up the ante.
The time is 1873 in the Arizona territory. A stranger (Daniel Craig) with no memory wakes up in the desert with a strange metallic object shackled to his wrist. He stumbles into the nearby town of Absolution. He quickly comes to learn that the town is ruled with an iron fist by a local cattle rancher, Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford). It’s a town where even the Sheriff must bow to the wishes of the Colonel and it lives in oppression and fear. Oddly enough, many people in the town recognize the stranger as Jake Lonergan, a feared outlaw. Unfortunately for Jake, it seems that the Colonel has a grudge with him for stealing his gold.
Whatever terror the town thought they lived under pales in comparison to the sudden appearance of flying metal marauders from the sky who come and kidnap people at random while unleashing horrific destruction upon the town. Jake realizes that the wristband he is shackled to is a weapon and uses it to fight back against the invasion. Dolarhyde and Lonergan realize that they have mutual need for each other and everyone puts there differences aside and set out to find the kidnapped town folk. Along the way, they come across Indians and outlaws who all have been attacked and realize that their only hope for survival is to band together. This sets the stage for an epic showdown between Cowboys and Aliens.
The film does a good job developing the characters. Lonergan is the protagonist, yet he clearly is not pure of heart and has done questionable things in his past. Harrison Ford portrays antagonist Dolarhyde ruthlessly, yet as the movie unfolds you see a different side to him and you come to respect him if not care for him despite his ruthless ways. I’ve never much thought highly of the quality of Harrison Ford’s acting in the past, but he does a really good job showing depth with this character who in any other movie would just be played generic evil. Sam Rockwell plays the saloon owner named ‘Doc’. Rockwell is always good and doesn’t disappoint here. He plays a weak man who is forced to show courage and valor if he is to save his wife. Great performance.
The wildcard in this situation is the local towns woman Ella Swenson (played exotically by Olivia Wilde. I have to say I sincerely doubt they had women who looked like Olivia back then. Ms Wilde truly won the genetic lottery as she is breathtaking. I think she may be a worthy successor to Angelina Jolie). Ella knows something about Jake and as Jake slowly starts to piece back his memory her role starts to become clearer.
One thing in this movie I thought could have been played better were the aliens. They were generic evil bogey monsters. For such an advanced race they sure did make some basic security blunders too. I wish the movie would have developed the aliens the way they developed the cowboy’s characters. Now that I write this, I am sure that is what I felt the movie was missing. More insight and understanding of the aliens other than space invading monsters. That’s too easy of a plot device.
Overall, I am glad the movie was made. It was a fun and unique experience as well as bringing back the Western genre that is currently on life support in Hollywood
I give this film *** stars.
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