Cowboys and Aliens U/A; Action, Sci-Fi, Western DIR: Jon Favreau CAST: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell ** I don't know about you, but I'm a bit tired of the way Hollywood portrays aliens. For the past 30 years, from Aliens to District 9, they've more or less always been depicted as violent, slimy creatures. <img alt="" src="/imagedata/2011/jul/Cowboys.jpg" border="5" /> Isn't it funny how they're technologically advanced enough to build spaceships, but haven't yet developed basic things like language skills, clothing and a habit of not eating their food raw? Cowboys And Aliens, a big-budget crowd-pleasing wannabe, succumbs similarly to lazy writing and paints its aliens in broad, illogical strokes. However, you know what its biggest folly is? It forgets to tell an engaging and original story. Directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Iron Man 2), with a cast that includes Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Sam Rockwell and an exciting premise inspired by ex-Marvel Comics man Scott Mitchell Rosenberg's graphic novels, this movie should've blown our socks off. Cowboys and aliens in the same movie? How could this possibly go wrong? However, what we get instead is a generic summer blockbuster that simply features cowboys versus...you guessed it...aliens! The plot is predictable sci-fi hokum, as seen in everything from Invasion of the Body Snatchers to Steven Spielberg's mini-series Taken, while the first act is basically every Western ever made. It's 1875 and a mysterious stranger (Daniel Craig) walks into the town of Absolution. As per an obvious checklist of events, he teaches the local troublemaker a lesson, walks into a local bar for a drink and has a standoff with the sheriff and his men. The only anomaly is that he, later revealed to be Jake Lonergan, has forgotten his name and is wearing a mysterious bracelet that shoots deadly laser beams. Considering that no one should have any idea what laser even is, the folk of Absolution seem pretty adjusting. That's probably because they've witnessed mysterious flying machines fly in before and take their loved ones with the help of lassoes. Yes, lassoes... just in case people think tractor beams alone are, well, unusual for 1875. It's not like attention to detail is this movie's strength anyway: saloon-owner Doc, played by Sam Rockwell, sounds like a modern day Ned Flanders (from The Simpsons) in period costume (although to be fair, he does deliver the most enjoyable performance in the film). The truth is that it's possible to enjoy Cowboys And Aliens if you simply turn your brain off. However, when bad writing and characterisation ruin the work of talented actors (Harrison Ford, for example, is wasted in a bland role as cattle ranch-owner Woodrow Dolarhyde, whose son has been snatched by the aliens), such mediocrity is unforgivable. u00a0 The action scenes are, admittedly, quite well shot (particularly a stunning face-off in the middle of the desert), but mostly lack suspense or intrigue. u00a0 Daniel Craig attempts to pull off a Clint Eastwood, but ends up giving a disappointingly wooden performance. Olivia Wilde, who plays the mysterious Ellen Swansen, looks great and ufffd well, that's about it. Cowboys And Aliens is riddled with clich ufffds. Why would you pay good money to watch a movie like this?

I don't know about you, but I'm a bit tired of the way Hollywood portrays aliens. For the past 30 years, from Aliens to District 9, they've more or less always been depicted as violent, slimy creatures

Cowboys and Aliens - Movie review

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