Cowboys & Aliens is a good film, but not as good as I hoped it might be. Faint praise? Perhaps, but praise nonetheless. When the first trailer was released last year, I was enthralled: Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, executive produced by Steven Spielberg, the very novel idea of setting a science fiction adventure story in the Old West, etc. This was an exciting project. In the end, director Jon Favreau (the rotund Swingers star arguably more famous now for directing such crowd-pleasing fare as Elf and Iron Man) and his ample posse of credited screenwriters--"written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, based on a screen story by Mr. Fergus, Mr. Ostby and Steve Oedekerk and the graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg" (whew!)--have delivered the goods, it's a satisfying two-hour escape from the blistering heat, but the film also falls short in certain respects.

It certainly has a dynamite opening, though, with Craig waking with a start in the desert. There is a giant gash in his stomach, a strange metallic device attached to his wrist, and his mind is devoid of memories. He doesn't even know his name. A few punches and gunshots later, he finds his way to a small town lorded over by a suffers-no-fools rancher named Col. Woodrow Dolarhyde (Ford). The colonel and the local police recognize the Craig character as Jake Lonergan, a wanted outlaw and gunfighter. Any personal conflicts, however, fall to the wayside after spaceships swoop out of the night sky and abduct several of the town's citizens, including Dolarhyde's ne'er-do-well son (Paul Dano) and the wife of local barman Doc (Sam Rockwell). The assault is only interrupted by Jake's realization his bracelet is in fact an alien firearm. Jake then forms an uneasy alliance with Col. Dolarhyde and the townspeople, and the group ride out together to face the aliens. They aim to save their loved ones, and he hopes to unravel the mysteries of his past and current predicament.

Despite the fact he's best known for playing the ultimate suave British spy, Daniel Craig is perfectly cast as a Man with No Name-type gunslinger. Most of his dialogue is incredibly terse ("Put down your gun!," "I can't remember!"), and the character is by design a cipher, but Craig, with his piercing blue eyes, rugged intensity, and ability to project a certain subtle melancholy with seeming ease, is never less than compelling. Harrison Ford's performance consists mostly of growling--the iconic actor used to be charming, but in his old age his performances seem defined by wells of seething, tired-of-the-world rage--but he won me over slightly by the end. Rockwell and Dano play colorful supporting roles and steal a few scenes from the above-the-title talent. The toughest role falls to Olivia Wilde as Ella, a beautiful and mysterious resident of the town who seems to have a knowledge or at least awareness of the aliens. Ella isn't so much a character as an exposition-dispensing storytelling device, so I applaud Wilde for bringing a degree of grace and interest to the proceedings.

Hiring Jon Favreau to direct was a fine, safe choice, but I'm not sure it was the best one. He seems content to go 75% of the way where other (more ambitious, more challenging) directors might have gone further and explored the the odd, electrifying possibilities of this concept with greater verve. Favreau gets the job done--it's a nicely mounted film with a handful of exciting action sequences, and it moves at a nice clip--but his directorial vision is all journeyman, never transcendent. He's not entirely helped by a script which is on fire for the first half with lots of intriguing character beats and creepy alien encounters, but then loses a bit of steam as it wears on. (No matter your age, race, gender, creed, or level of intelligence, believe me, you will be disappointed when the aliens' ultimate motive is revealed. Remember John Travolta's nefarious plan in Battlefield Earth?)

I keep returning to these types of phrases: "gets the job done," "it'll do," "solid popcorn movie," "there are worse ways to spend a couple hours," "it has certain qualities," etc. And it's the truth. Cowboys & Aliens isn't perfect. It could have been better. But I left satisfied.

B

It's good. That's it.

It was mostly entertaining. Definitely had some issues, though. I thought they made Harrison Ford's character too unlikable, and when the movie tried to bring us back into liking him again, I'm not sure it worked.

Without giving too many spoilers, they didn't explain the girl much... that came out of left field and left a lot of unanswered questions. It felt like one of the 50 writers added that later because they needed a female character.

Also, didn't like a few of the corny scenes and dialogue.

But, again... it was entertaining while I was watching it.

Grade: B-

If they'd hired John Hillcoat to direct this, and let one talented writer give the cobbled-together script an overhaul, this could've been an instant classic.

This is more Back to the Future Part III safe genre crossing western than the trash that is Wild Wild West or Jonah Hex.

I enjoyed it quite a bit, I agree it could have been epic, but theres no real problems. Well acted (Ford and Craig are really having a great time, but the supporting characters are just as good), great cinematography and effects, pretty funny, and some good action. One of my better times at the movies this year. I was actually surprised to find it smarter than the reviews made it out to be.



Just a fun time at the movies that for the most part gets it all right.

B+/A-

Utterly ridiculous, but played with utter seriousness, and I actually think that's the best way to approach it. As a result, I enjoyed it, although much more so for the first half and the western aspect than the second half, where the ridiculousness took on another level. B.

Mostly boring. The Aliens can travel through space yet they decide to capture humans to see their weaknesses? No. They could easily, it seems, have killed every human they found and not bother with the whole staring at the ceiling business. Also, the aliens had the same weapon as Daniel Craig yet they decide to fight in hand-to-hand combat? No. They can fucking fly!

Oh, and why would blowing their mining rig up ensure that they wouldn't return when they already knew the earth had gold?

Harrison Ford tortures his own employees yet hates to see his own men die and hates war? These traits seem in conflict.

C

This was kind of like Transformers 3. Was I entertained? Sure. Do I regret seeing it? Nah. Was it monumentally dumb and amateurish? That's understating it.

Unlike Transformers 3 though, I couldn't believe how cheap it all looked. The town never seemed more than a few building fronts that were not believable as having interiors, and the night attack looked like it was shot at night simply to hide how crappy the town set was.

Both Craig and Ford seemed miscast. Craig lacks the lanky easy going confidence for that kind of role. He's so brittle in an insecure way in most of his roles and especially here.

I found Lonergan unsympathetic. He's a triple murderer in the first 5 minutes and never does enough to redeem that. And I won't get started on the show's warped ideas about fatherhood and manliness, that would be three more paragraphs.

Clancy Brown and Walton Goggins were the highlights. They were more charismatic and interesting than the leads.

Yeah this film was actually much more thrilling as a western and actually has me wishing that the genre can try and make somewhat of a risk trying to come back on a regular basis. The sci-fi stuff is somewhat thrilling but nothing too original. It is still quite thrilling throughout and Daniel Craig does a great job in his lead. I was kind of surprised by the amount of time Harrison Ford was on screen. I expected him to be around more but his own story ends on a somewhat hopeful note. Olivia Wilde does well with her character. Paul Dano was surprisingly strong especially in his first few scenes and Sam Rockwell plays off some satisfying comic relief. The plot could of taken more risks but the way it was told and how everything resolved was still refreshing. A good enough entertaining summer film. **1/2

It was better than expected but it's the kind of movie where you had better not think about the plot too much because then all the holes start showing. And the stereotypical western characters got to be a bit much every now and then.

Some humor would have been nice. Especially with such a great concept... maybe it just took itself too seriously.

Good cast and a great first fifteen minutes or so.

A solid C

The last of the blockbusters I had to see this summer, it is without a doubt the worst.

A year ago, this was the movie championed as being the next Inception or rather the next summer original mega-blockbuster. True Grit's overperformance in December and Rango's decent one in May solidified the draw this would potentially have-after all it included aliens to boot. Yet, besides the teaser poster, every single item that was produced to market it was underwhelming, uninteresting and drab.

Reviews were mixed, reception was mixed, but unfortunately it didn't resonate with me. The whole "new guy in town" which might be a generic Western plot device (I don't know- don't really like the genre) but Rango did it so much better. The characters were menacing, interesting, three-dimensional and the entire scene was atmospheric, in C&A production value lacked, everything just seemed so careless. Wilde was not interesting, Craig's entrance was unmemorable and it continued throughout. Ford was thoroughly unconvincing and stock and all the other supporting characters were laughable in their genericalness.

As predicted, or feared, the script could not live up to its draw. The aliens were some of the worst ever created that you'd wonder why anyone liked the graphic novel or liked it enough to create a $163m movie out of it. Mining gold. New-ish, but that makes their motive so human-like and for all their technology that are still unable to handle humans. There was no need to even dissect them considering how easily the ranks fell and keep them alive- except well to have a happy ending. The plot is full of convenient coincidences; Craig's laser activating whenever trouble was at hand, Wilde being an all-knowing force, Craig's memories coming back at the right time, all potentially hazardous situations were handled with Craig's device activating or aliens coming. It was a completely uninspired and terribly workmanlike movie that heaved itself to its finish and when the attraction was a face off between cowboys and aliens that is probably the worst description possible.

C-

6/10 - C

The movies doesn't live up to what its name promises. It should be big, frenetic, mindless, joyful, action packed summer romp. But it strays away and becomes torn between real attempt at drama and its camp nature.

While not a bad movie, it ain't a good one either. The actors seem uninspired as does Favreau. He's still clueless when it comes to action sequences, which C&A should have benefited the most.

I was actually sort of enjoying it until Olivia Wilde came back from the dead and revealed herself to be a shapeshifting alien, or whatever. Then it just got exponentially stupider.

The aliens were after gold? Really? Did the writers intend that as a joke?

yes

Considering we killed off almost the entire Native American population for gold, it's extremely fitting and hilarious that Aliens tried to do the same thing to Cowboys. It's an American thing

Oh right. Because Canadians never had gold rushes or killed off natives.

The "satire" (wrong word, perhaps, but if you will) didn't come through in the movie. The aliens' plot just seemed clunky and underdeveloped. As if a screenwriter on day 42 of the shoot was told, "Quick! We need an alien motive! Daniel and Olivia are on set! Come on, man!"

The movie did have potent pleasures, though, chiefly Craig's taciturn performance and the cinematography.

Americans are unaware of the history of other countries. Maybe the aliens did not go to the Yukon because they figured no people could be as stupid as the dipshits that populated the area where this film takes place; unfortunately, they were wrong.

Cowboys & Aliens

Well, that was boring. Favreau obviously thought he was making a cowboy movie for the 1980s, in which case it would have been so awesome and would have probably outgrossed Star Wars.

Daniel Craig was good, Harrison Ford was not. He obviously forgot how to act. Wilde was occasionally pretty and the rest of the time she looked like an alien (quite fitting as she was one!). The first 80 minutes was awfully bad, then it got slightly interesting. Favreau should stick to making shitty Iron Man movies (at least they make money) because this was bad. Whoever thought it was a good idea to have aliens be inferior to 18th century humans was not taking their medication that day. Seriously, arrows and spears and six-shooters can now defeat super-intelligent alien gold miners (which again was another 'wtf' and 'lol' moment).

Now, I'm a lover of serious cinema, but this is the one film that needed to be played more lightheartedly. It's an inane concept (with hundreds of plot holes and terrible writing) and it was played straight down the middle. Very weird. Craig is great; rugged, manly, slightly pissed off, and direct, he leads what is a shocker of a movie.

Forgettable.

D