"cowboys & aliens"

i don't think i have to explain to any of you out there that know me that i am a huge fan of harrison ford.  he has been my personal hero since i saw "star wars" back in 1977.  not that i could really remember seeing it in '77...but you get the picture.  he is an iconic figure who has brought to the screen two of the most beloved characters in moviedom.  interesting thing is:  out of all the movies he's made only two were westerns.

he's a natural for this genre and has so much more presence here than in many of his recent contemporary films.  i probably would have enjoyed this movie more if it was a straight-up western...but it IS called "cowboys & aliens"


so the movie breaks down like this:  you got a run down  town that's basically being kept from turning into a ghost town by the business supplied by wealthy cattleman, dolarhyde (ford).  because he keeps the town running he feels as though he owns it and every one or thing in it.  his son, percy (paul dano) is a drunk who terrorizes the town but the townsfolk are powerless to stop him.  even the sheriff (keith carradine) really has no power.


enter the lonesome stranger, jake lonergan (daniel craig) who sees the trouble percy is causing and subdues him.  lonergan, however, has no memory (and a nifty gadget on his wrist that makes weird noises now and again) and has no idea that he's a wanted man and the sheriff arrests both him and percy.

dolarhyde learns of this and gets his men together to go get his son and take lonergan to deal with him on his own.  the raid on the town is disrupted, however, by strange lights in the sky:  the aliens have come to take the townsfolk off to their lair.


dolarhyde, lonergan and many of the town form a posse to go off after the aliens to get their people back.

they find the lair and begin their attack and are inexplicably joined by some indians (the only reason i could tell was because the filmmakers needed more victims for the aliens).  the fight is brutal and after many set-backs the humans win and the town is kinda back to normal and even the mean-spirited dolarhyde has changed for the better.  and daniel craig rides off into the sunset.

all in all, the movie doesn't totally suck.  the western part is good, the sets are well done, the landscape is cool, the acting is better than most and the dialogue doesn't feel forced or too cheesy (except for the parts where they refer to the aliens as demons).

you've got some good actors here: ford, craig and dano (mentioned earlier) are joined by sam rockwell, clancy brown, adam beach, walton goggins ("justified"), noah ringer ("the last airbender"..the movie sucked but he's pretty good here), and mega-hottie olivia wilde.  you've got some good FX...the aliens look pretty cool.  but for me it's just not enough to make this movie really shine.  this is a movie that i should love because it meshes two genres that i love: westerns and sci-fi...but it just doesn't work in the end.

bottomline:
2.5 outta 5