Cowboys & Aliens
Directed by Jon Favreau
Starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Clancy Brown, Paul Dano, Adam Beach, and Keith Carradine.
Backstory
The title alone, “Cowboys & Aliens” conjures up all kinds of neat blends. What kind of sci-fi/western hybrid is possible with such a title? Had a good pedigree, too. With Jon Favreau, fresh off the two Iron Man movies, directing, it sounded like it would be fun and action-packed. The script is by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who can be brilliant writers (see the Star Trek reboot), but when they fail, they fail spectacularly (see Transformers 2). Plus James Bond and Indiana Jones are the stars! What will this mixture create?
Plot
A man eventually identified as Jake Lonergan wakes up in the middle of the desert with no memory of who he is, how he got there, and he has a strange metal device attached to his wrist. He makes it to the nearest town where he’s eventually identified as a bandit who recently robbed the local cattle baron Dollarhyde. As Dollarhyde rides to town to dispatch some frontier justice on Jake, aliens soon fly into town and begin abducting the townsfolk. The metal device on Jake’s wrist turns out to be the only weapon that can stop the aliens. Jake, Dollarhyde, and the other remaining townsfolk soon round up a posse to track down the aliens and rescue their kin. Can they stop the aliens? Will Jake regain his memory?
What I Liked
Great special effects, with some really creepy alien designs. Great music score, as well. Sam Rockwell and Clancy Brown have a nice little subplot as the town’s bartender/doctor and preacher. Daniel Craig does a great man with no name cowboy badass character.
What I Didn’t Like
The problem with our hero suffering from amnesia is I feel we really never get to know him as a character, probably which is why I really liked the subplots with the supporting characters. With the blend of cowboys and aliens, I was expected more humour, but this film was just so darn serious. And despite the novelty of the premise, I found the plot to be a rather cliched and by-the-numbers action flick.
Final Assessment
Meh. I was expecting more, I guess. As I said, I found it be a rather by-the-numbers action flick. A little disappointing, actually.