Rated
PG-13 (Intense Sequences of Western and Sci-Fi Action and Violence, Some Partial
Nudity and a Brief Crude Reference)
Running
Time: 1 Hour & 59 Minutes
Cast:
Daniel
Craig-Jake Lonergan
Harrison
Ford-Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde
Olivia
Wilde-Ella Swenson
Sam
Rockwell-Doc
Keith
Carradine-Sheriff John Taggart
Noah
Ringer-Emmett Taggart
Adam
Beach-Nat Colorado
Clancy
Brown-Meacham
Paul
Dano-Percy Dolarhyde
Walton
Goggins-Hunt
Raoul
Trujillo-Chiricahua Apache Chief Black Knife
Abigail
Spencer-Alice
Ana
de la Reguera-Maria
Directed
by Jon Favreau
 |
| Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford protect the Wild West from extraterrestrials in Jon Favreau's "Cowboys & Aliens." |
I’ve
lost count of the number of times I’ve seen the “Cowboys & Aliens” trailer,
which has played in front of every film I’ve seen so far this year. Based upon
the 2006 graphic novel of the same name created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and
published by Platinum Studios, “Cowboys & Aliens” has been in development for
quite some time since 1997 but the film adaptation is only loosely based on it.
Mixing a Western with science fiction elements is certainly novel and I was
excited to see the film but despite its far-fetched premise, the final product
is disappointingly ordinary and does not deviate from the formula of other,
well-known alien-invasion flicks. Still, “Cowboys & Aliens” functions as
perfectly fun and adequate summer entertainment, with the added presence of
Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford a big plus that elevates the material.
In 1873
Arizona, a wounded man named Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) wakes up in the
middle of the desert with no memory of who he is or how he got there. A strange
metal device is attached to his wrist but he is unable to remove it. Three
bandits happen upon Jake and mistaking him for an escaped criminal, they
attempt to capture him to collect the reward. Jake defends himself and kills
the three bandits with almost no effort. Taking their horse and weapons, he
arrives at the small town of Absolution and is stitched up by a kindly doctor.
Absolution was once a prosperous town thanks to a nearby gold deposit but
nowadays, its only source of income rests with Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde’s
(Harrison Ford) cattle business. Dolarhyde’s son Percy (Paul Dano) uses this fact
to his advantage by behaving in a reckless manner, knowing the townsfolk will
not stand up to him in fear of disrespecting his father. He gets into an
argument with the local saloon keeper, Doc (Sam Rockwell), but Jake puts Percy
in his place. Angry at being humiliated, he attempts to shoot Jake but accidentally
wounds the Sheriff’s Deputy. Sheriff John Taggart (Keith Carradine) arrives on
the scene to arrest Percy and Jake is hailed as a hero by the townsfolk. At the
saloon, Jake encounters a strange woman named Ella Swenson (Olivia Wilde) who
questions him on where he came from and how he obtained the strange bracelet on
his wrist. Later, Taggart notices a Wanted poster and realizes that Jake is a
fugitive, despite him having no recollection of his past life. He orders him
taken into custody but Dolarhyde rides into town to free his son and recognizes
Lonergan, as he apparently stole some gold from him. As tensions rise among the
townsfolk, strange lights begin to appear in the night sky and these ‘demons’
brutally lay waste to Absolution, abducting several people in the process.
Lonergan manages to free himself and shoots down one of the ships using his
metal bracelet. It soon becomes clear that these ships are not of this world,
forcing Lonergan and Dolarhyde to put aside their differences in order to stop
a full-scale alien invasion.
There’s no shortage of big names in “Cowboys &
Aliens” with Ron Howard serving as producer and Steven Spielberg as executive
producer so it’s disappointing to see how pedestrian the story is. Aliens wielding
advanced technology attack Earth, forcing the embattled humans to put aside
their differences and work together in order to stay alive. If this all sounds
familiar, it’s because we’ve seen it before in similar flicks such as
“Independence Day.” This does not mean that it’s a bad film but given the amount
of potential promised by its premise, the script is rather predictable and many
of its subplots aren’t sufficiently developed. What little drama is provided by
Dolarhyde and his right-hand man, Nat Colorado (Adam Beach) but the characters do
not have any other motivation beyond the fact that they have to save the people
that were abducted, a shame really because much of the cast, especially Craig
and Ford, do not have as much screen-time together as the trailers initially
promised. Director Jon Favreau attempts to inject some sort of subtext into the
film but it comes off as half-baked. European settlers and the United States during
the 19th century used their advanced technology to subjugate Native
Americans when expanding their borders or forming colonies but this time it is
the aliens who want to expand and the
humans who are at a disadvantage, leading to a bit of irony when the cowboys
have to ask for help from the tribes
whose land they’ve stolen. Unfortunately, this analogy does not really hold up
to scrutiny given what is written in the history books.
I was surprised at how
serious the tone of the film was since the title elicited laughter whenever the
trailer was shown. While there’s humor, it’s only the occasional one-liner or
low-key gag. “Cowboys & Aliens” also suffers from some lapses in logic,
largely pertaining to the science fiction elements and it feels like the film
would’ve worked better if it was a full Western. When the cowboys and their
Native Americans allies find the aliens’ base, it’s practically out in plain
sight. The fact that some random passers-by didn’t notice it is
head-scratching. We learn that the aliens are sensitive to daylight and only
come out at night but during the final battle, they seem perfectly fine as they
brutally massacre everyone. As a whole, the aliens are generic CG creations and
aren’t very memorable. Some plot developments, ridiculous as they were, also
prompted laughter from the audience so your enjoyment of the film will depend
on whether you can take it as seriously as the cast and crew did. The action
scenes, of which there are three, are very well-done. The first encounter with
the aliens as they attack Absolution is an absolute stunner and really captures
the large disadvantage the cowboys have. Another involves a chase in the desert
where Ella gets abducted, forcing Jake to leap onto the spacecraft to disable
it. The climactic battle is suitably brutal but you just know the humans are
going to win, which robs some of the tension that Favreau was going for but
nonetheless, these scenes remain exciting to watch. In fact, seeing the aliens
fly around in their ships reminded me of “War of the Worlds,” which was
directed by Spielberg.
The cast treat the material with a straight face and help
ground the film. Daniel Craig (who has three other films to be released this
year, including David Fincher’s adaptation of “The Girl with the Dragon
Tattoo”) throws himself into the role of Jake Lonergan with a quiet intensity that
pays homage to Clint Eastwood’s the Man with No Name from Sergio Leone’s
popular Westerns. In fact, I don’t believe he smiled once. I wonder if he can
out-intense Christian Bale. Harrison Ford plays a grumpy bastard that suits him
like an old glove. His character, Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde, is the only one
that goes through any real growth and is the most developed. Olivia Wilde is
fine as Ella Swenson but largely serves to provide exposition and eye-candy.
Sam Rockwell is saloon owner Doc and delivers much of the film’s one-liners.
The rest of the cast includes Paul Dano as Dolarhyde’s son Percy, Clancy Brown
as a preacher named Meacham, Keith Carradine (half-brother of David Carradine)
as Sheriff John Taggart with Noah Ringer (who played Aang in M. Night Shyamalan’s
abomination “The Last Airbender”) as his grandson Emmett but none of these
characters make much of an impression.
“Cowboys & Aliens” was released on
July 29, 2011 (thankfully not in 3D!) to mixed reviews with 44% on Rotten
Tomatoes. Critics found ‘Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford are as dependably
appealing as ever, but they're let down by director Jon Favreau's inability to
smooth [the films] jarring tonal shifts,’ which is something I don’t agree with
as the tone was kept consistently serious throughout…but to each their own.
Although it was expected to be number one at the weekend box office, this is
now in doubt as its currently running neck-and-neck with “The Smurfs 3D” so it
could go either way at this point. However, this does not change the fact that the
weekend gross for “Cowboys & Aliens” will ultimately be disappointing
seeing as it’s on track for $35 million, way below the average for a would-be
summer blockbuster. The audience seemed to treat it as a joke so whether this
is a good or bad thing remains to be seen. While I enjoyed watching “Cowboys
& Aliens,” the numerous script deficiencies coupled with its
run-of-the-mill plot serve to undermine its unique premise but it still remains
a perfectly serviceable summer film despite its glaring flaws.
Final
Rating: 3 out of 5
“Grab
your guns! We’re ridin’ out!”
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