'Cowboys & Aliens' review
“Cowboys & Aliens” is one film that is hard to explain and even harder to review. It is a strange mixture of sci-fi and western genres. Joss Whedon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) successfully combined the two genres in his excellent “Firefly” television series. Unfortunately for Whedon, the viewers didn’t come and the series was cancelled before one season was up. “Cowboys & Aliens” isn’t as good as “Firefly”, but it sure is fun.
The film is set in 1873 in the town of Absolution, Arizona (name carries more meaning as the movie progresses). Director Jon Favreau (“Iron Man”) has a nice feel for the western setting. You have the right amount of dust and dirt flying around. Brown and orange are the prevalent colors. Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) comes into town with a nasty flesh wound, a mysterious shackle around his wrist and no memory of what happened to him. If this movie was made 30-40 years ago, Clint Eastwood most definitely would have played the role. Jake is a man of mystery, who seems to court trouble wherever he walks.
Jake gets involved in a fracas with Percy (Paul Dano), the son of the man who runs the town. Percy is one of those people who have a silver spoon in his mouth and no respect for authority or decency. He expects everyone to bow before him because of his father. There is nice tension in these early scenes of the town people afraid to take Percy on for fear of retribution from his father.
I always love the names in westerns. Here you have Doc (Sam Rockwell), who runs the saloon with his wife. There’s Meacham (Clancy Brown), a preacher who doesn’t mind the occasional whiskey. Keith Carradine plays Sheriff John Taggart. That name just screams strength. Olivia Wilde is Ella, a woman who glides into the scenes. The big man on campus is Percy’s father, Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford). He is flanked by his right hand man Nat Colorado (Adam Beach), a Native American that watches out for Percy.
All hell breaks loose when aliens attack the town and take some of the town people away. The aliens here aren’t anything special. They look like rejects from the “Alien” movie series. There is no real personality to them. They go around snatching people and blowing stuff up. Favreau does a credible job in the action sequences. There are plenty of explosions and people diving on the ground. There is a healthy amount of skepticism from the characters on what exactly attacked them. They are “demons” from the sky. I liked that the movie didn’t dwell too long on this aspect. During those times, the frontier people were hardworking folk who put their heads down and got the job done. No matter if it is herding cattle or battling aliens in this case. I find it quite believable that the hysterics are kept to a minimum here.
It is nice to see Ford liberated with this role. In recent years, it also seemed like Ford was coasting on his past laurels. His character of the Colonel is not really a nice guy. It reminded me of his unsympathetic role in “The Mosquito Coast”. Here he gets to bark out lines and generally be a bad ass. There are few actors that can growl like Harrison Ford.
The Colonel and Jake set up an uneasy alliance to find out where the aliens have taken their human prisoners. In the backdrop is the mystery of the wrist bracelet and of Jake himself. We see flashbacks of Jake remembering what happened to him. The story starts to unravel when it is revealed why the aliens are here in the first place. It is one of the most ridiculous plot points in recent memory. I won’t reveal it here, but people will definitely roll their eyes after discovering it. There is also a mystery involving one of the major characters that really is underwritten. There could have been so much more done with that part of the story as well.
The strength of “Cowboys & Aliens” is the camaraderie among the actors. There is a general ease involved with the interactions. It also helps that there is a healthy dose of humor in the script. Ford and Craig were born to play these roles. Wilde is also good as the headstrong Ella. There is some smarts and brawn to go along with the beauty of her character. She’s not afraid to mix it up with the boys.
“Cowboys & Aliens” is not a perfect movie. The film is pretty ridiculous if you think about it too long. It is still enjoyable summer fare that is never boring with a top notch cast.