Cowboys & Aliens Review

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!”