Cowboys and Aliens (2011)
Certified: 14
Duration: 118 minutes
Directed by: Jon Favreau
Starring: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Keith Carradine, Adam Beach, Sam Rockwell, Clancy Brown
KRS release

Cowboys and Aliens is set in the Wild West and it comes complete with ranchers, sheriffs, outlaws and Indians.

Daniel Craig is Jake Lonergan, a gunfighter/outlaw who finds himself in the Arizona desert with a bad case of amnesia and a strange gauntlet strapped to his arm. Making his way to the small town of Absolution, he meets other folk who seem to know him but he no recollection of them. One of these people is the mysterious and beautiful Ella (Olivia Wilde). When he enters a saloon, he is accosted and arrested by Sheriff John Taggart (Keith Carradine). The “wanted” poster marks him down as being wanted for stagecoach robbery and more.

Rancher Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) rides into town to, first of all, liberate his son (Paul Dano) from the sheriff and also to get Jake. He wants the latter to tell him where he hid the gold he stole from him. The confrontation at night in the town’s main street does not go as planned as strange lights appear, and alien ships blast the town and kidnap several humans, including Woodrow’s son and the Sheriff. Meanwhile, Jake’s strange gauntlet turns out to be a sort of alien gadget that gives him the chance to shoot down one of the alien ships.

Soon a posse led by Woodrow is formed. This includes Alice, saloon owner Doc (Sam Rockwell) whose wife was kidnapped and Nat Colorado (Adam Beach), an Indian who is Woodrow’s tracker and has been with him since he was a boy. Jake, who starts having memory flashbacks, eventually joins them as they go off in search of the “demons” and their families.

This adaptation of the 2006 graphic novel is neither here nor there. It does provide the big spectacle that is required of a summer box office extravaganza, however, Jon Favreau’s treatment is workmanlike, lacking the inspired touch he had brought to Iron Man. The film’s title screams of pulp crossover, of B-movie madness and more. Yet the resulting movie lacks that chutzpah to really spice up matters.

These cowhands, saloon gals and Red Indians accept the aliens much too easily. After a while, they call them “demons”; the sense of amazement and fear soon disappears as cowboys and Indians decide to go off on a kicking alien spree in the good old-fashioned Hollywood way.

Daniel Craig does a James Bond of the West with grim determination and Harrison Ford plays a weathered Indiana Jones. But while Mr Craig has more screen time, it’s Mr Ford who emerges best, also because he gets the best one-liners. Mr Ford’s character goes through a dramatic change and progression while Mr Craig remains static in feeling and appearance throughout the whole venture.

Sam Rockwell is lost amid the special effects while Adam Beach brings some real acting to the screen. Once again Olivia Wilde brings a haunting beauty to another film (the other being Tron: Legacy). The problem is that the characters are simply too one-dimensional for us to really care enough about.

The monsters themselves are inspired by the H. P. Lovecraft creation Chtulhu with the hands that emerge from their chest being quite an inspired touch.

The battles that ensue in the Wild West are entertaining. especially the aerial attack by alien craft on a large posse of cowboys and the night attack on the town which sees many of the townspeople being kidnapped.

Cinematographer Matthew Libatique brings a grimy and gritty view to the Western sequences and a darker touch to the sequences that sees the heroes enter the alien stronghold.

The film aims to be more Western than sci-fi and gets the feel just right. Cowboys and Aliens’ problem is that it has too much untapped potential and lacks the storytelling drive that is necessary to bring such wildly different genres together.

Jon Favreau ticks most of the compulsory dots required for the mega budget blockbuster; the film is attractive in its concept but it lacks the zing to make us feel as if we were on the adventure of a lifetime.