Cowboys & Aliens

Preposterous in every way, the genre-bending sci-fi western takes state-of-the-art creature effects (and directed by Jon Favreau) and puts them smack dab in the middle of Arizona territory in the late 1800's. The idea stems from a graphic novel of the same name and truly sounds fascinating on paper.

Translating that story into a cohesive film with more than just special effects is difficult, even with a cluster of good actors. Westerns are tricky, and as Harrison Ford stated in an interview (paraphrased), "Make no mistake, this isn't Unforgiven." He was right about that.

You can't fault Favreau on this one though. The direction was great, and he made lemonade out of the lemon of a story. The appeal of Old West gangs and Indians coming together to fight aliens seems like an awesome idea, but when you think about the primitive tools and weapons, and the fact that the aliens (always) are an advanced being with more strength, technology, and presumably, intellect. They always seem to get outsmarted by the humans though, don't they?

This time, bows and arrows, six-shooters, and rifles take down the whole mess of them. Kind of ridiculous. The film took a total of six writers, many of them veterans of sci-fi films, and this is what they came up with? A mysterious stranger appears in the middle of Arizona with a weapon on his wrist, and finds himself wanted by the law. He can't remember anything; name, how he got there, why he has the shackle on his wrist. Enter aliens who capture humans to do their nasty probing experiments, and all the humans posse up and attack the aliens' ship.

Not for a lack of trying, they did as good as they could considering the story, and although Daniel Craig seems like an odd casting choice, and Harrison Ford, although enjoying himself as the elder statesman on set, does a bit of overacting as well. There are some strong actors in the bunch, notably Sam Rockwell, Keith Carradine, and Paul Dano as the despicable son of Ford's cattle baron. There are a lot of supporting usual suspects who grow meaty mustaches and look at home on a horse in a chapeau. The biggest problem however, is the clash of genres.

Great special effects, and to be honest, you get exactly what you are paying for. It's Cowboys & Aliens after all. The creatures look great, although cliche and counter-intuitive in their perceived intelligence yet incredible ineptitude. How many intelligent species don't communicate with each other, and just roar loudly with spittle and slime coming out of their mouths? Oh yea, none.

It's a fun summer action film, but expect no surprises or satisfaction beyond some cool fight scenes. 6/10.