Fresh Reviews: "Cowboys And Aliens"

Rated PG-13 for violence and a brief bit of strong language.

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Every now and then the movies will try to surprise us with a bizarre hybrid of the western film and some other far-removed genre. I recall a late 50's vampire story set in the old west, and I wish I could say I DIDN'T recall "Jesse James Vs. Frankenstein's Daughter". The vampire story, which featured Eric Fleming of "Rawhide" (the title of which I can't recall right now) was actually not bad, and "Jesse James" (etc.) was about as awful as you'd expect. Now we have "Cowboys And Aliens", with some of the biggest names in film making behind the scenes, and the result is a movie that sits resolutely in the middle ground between the two, sometimes featuring some genuine exciting moments and no real bad ones, but most of the time is nothing to get all that worked up about.

In the old west, the traditional nameless drifter (played this time around by Daniel Craig) wakes up outside a town he doesn't know, with no memory of who he is or where he came from, but with a strange futuristic-looking metal "bracelet" on his right hand. After drifting into town and getting in trouble with the local law and the wealthy land-owner who isn't the mayor but might as well be (Harrison Ford), the usual western proceedings are interrupted by the arrival of a gigantic spaceship and some extremely bad-tempered and scary aliens. Suddenly, Craig, Ford, all the townspeople, AND the local Indian tribe have to put aside their differences and come together against a very, very powerful common enemy.

Now, I like the concept. I mean, how could I not? If there's anywhere aliens and spaceships don't belong, it's the old west... so a movie based on this premise ought to be the coolest thing ever just on that basis alone, right? And with that cast, and the director and producers? Well, sometimes. I actually found the pure western scenes before the aliens arrive to be somewhat more interesting that the science fiction stuff... granted, they're not all that original but it's clear that everyone involved was having fun in a genre nobody does any more, and there was a really nice, effective feel for the period and the remote desert setting. Then we get the arrival of the ship, and it's pretty much any other "monsters from space" movie from the 1950's until now, in spite of its unique setting and the fact that the special effects are so much more realistic now than they would have been 60 years ago (they ARE spectacular, by the way).

Daniel Craig might make a great James Bond (no, actually, he DOES make a great Bond), but all we get in this role is glowering and a near total lack of emotion, like he's thinking about the movie he'd rather be in than this one. Harrison Ford is tremendous fun in the early goings on when the character he plays is still presented as pure evil and nasty: this is a part he NEVER gets to play, and he's clearly having the time of his life in it. Sorry to say, as the movie goes on and everyone has to cooperate and begin to form grudging alliances and respect for each other, Ford's character begins to soften into yet another of the crusty but lovable anti-heroes that he's played way too many times. There really wasn't any need story-wise to soften him like that... except, of course, for the fact that he's Harrison Ford, and the studio's afraid that audiences might not accept him as a pure bad guy. At least Olivia Wilde continues her tradition from "Tron: Legacy" of effectively playing a self-sufficient, strong female character in a genre that doesn't always allow for such roles for women. The role isn't as large as it might be, but sometimes you have to take what you can get.

And can somebody please explain to me why these aliens are on earth to mine gold? We have a character briefly ask that, then the question is shrugged off and never brought up again. I WANT TO KNOW, OKAY??!! Taking over the planet, allright, I can see that... but to collect GOLD? This is what they've traveled across the universe for? I have to suspect that this may be a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth... director Jon Favreau could have made a great movie from this premise, so could producer Steven Spielberg or producer Ron Howard (even though Howard has never really done anything like this before). But I just have this image of each of them fighting for their own individual ideas about what the movie should be and the end result turning into a weird mash-up of individual good ideas that don't quite come together the way they should.

So, what have we got here? Good effects, occasional exciting moments, and for sure you're never bored. But by rights this ought to be THE blockbuster of the summer, and that is definitely NOT what this film ultimately is. I wonder if it's because... possibly... it was based more on a marketing concept ("Hey, we can sell it to two completely different audiences!") rather than coming from a story that the film makers felt they absolutely had to tell. Whatever. I just find my self thinking two things after this: (1) It could have been so much more, and (2) I sure hope "Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes" is better than this.