Cowboys & Aliens

I really enjoyed this movie. (Imagine me at this point snorting derisively at those who pan this film.) Lots of action. Good story. Great character development. It's the kind of enjoyable sci-fi movie you can just get into without any effort. Just relax and hang on for the ride. The strange thing is that it is both a good western and a good sci-fi film. Favreau nails down both genres (including the clichés) and marries them. Wow. It worked. Daniel Craig is just fracking awesome as the tough-as-nails hero. Harrison Ford is great as the ornery old guy. No, it's not a perfect movie. There were a few story issues. I got particularly irritated when dozens apparently had to die to free the dozens held captive. Favreau is apparently now one of my favourite directors.

Let's be honest -- Jon Favreau can't direct. Like this flick, the Iron Man series sucks. The film starts out interesting but then descends into boring triviality. And if you think Harrison Ford is really in this film, think again. He's role is a virtual truncated walk on money shot. Script writing is incomprehensible. Best part -- the big tooth guy from The Shield gets his front tooth knocked out but 20 minutes later it's back in his head! The aliens are shown so huge they could never fit into their individual spaceships. How did that happen? Oh and then there's the bleeding hear liberal message delivered by the indians. And not one actually looks Indian! Can you get more predictive? And why do so many alien flicks have some sort of mother ship that when destroyed finishes of all the other aliens? Why? Bad writing, that's why. Stay away. You've been warned.

With a haggard Harrison Ford settling into his "crotchety curmudgeon" phase (his character comes across not unlike John Wayne's character in THE SEARCHERS, only with the kind of sappy sentimentalism we find in most of the Hollywood product these days), COWBOYS & ALIENS could've been titled COWBOYS & INDIANS & ALIENS. Not that it matters; I'm just saying, you know...? The storyline is by-the-numbers familiar (ain't nothing like some clichés to keep the cowboy fans happy), despite the intrusion of the uppity extraterrestrials. (I found it more than a little odd that, at no point in the movie, did any of the main characters look around and question just who or what these eetees were. They were just some kinda flyin' varmits or airborne cattle rustlers to these cowpokes...) While you're at it, Hollywood (and while you're apparently itchin' to tell some supernatural western tales), why not go back to THE GHOST RIDER- the original, who was a cowboy. Giddyup.

Cowboys & Aliens is fun. It could have been better, but it also could have been much, much worse. I like the original premise, the visual effects are impressive (I loved the alien attacks) and the acting isn't bad, either. However, this film is flat and predictable. I know they deliberately tried to avoid campy-ness, but I wonder if this movie would have been better with a little dose of humor.

As far l remember there are just a few movies mix between these two marvelous genre Sci-Fi & Western, all the more my favorite kind, the story is well-crafted supported by a big budge and a fine casting, maybe for the first time the deadly enemies are together against the aliens, cowboys, indians and the mexicans, the results are plentful delightful, putting apart those ridiculous aliens copy from others productions, they should be more originals to change, the high point are the amazing landscape on the desert with great spots, fine entertainment!! Resume: First watch: 2012 / How many: 2 / Source: DVD-Blu-Ray / Rating: 7.5