Cowboys & Aliens mixes two genres that seem like they would never co-exist in one movie, but director Jon Favreau (Iron Man) tries his hardest to make it happen. In the end, he is pretty successful, but the movie could have been more in several ways – more exciting, more creative, and more compelling. Now, it may take itself too seriously, but it is fun and entertaining. Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford try their best to make a believer out of you while shooting and blasting through all the chaos.
It’s 1873 and a man named Jake Lonergan (Craig) wakes up in the middle of the desert in the Arizona territory with no idea who he is, where he has been, or how he got there. All he has is a machine around his wrist that definitely isn’t from the Wild West. He enters in to a town called Absolution that is owned and ran by Col. Woodrow Dolarhyde (Ford), and come to find out, he knows who Lonergan is and he has been looking for him. But their rivalry is put on hold once creatures from the sky snatch up everyone one-by-one using their speeding ships and blinding lights. The ones who get away soon find out that Lonergan and his iron-clad bracelet may be the only thing that can save them.
Favreau does not leave a lot of mystery for the audience when it comes to the aliens and their reason for invading the Wild West. Also, he does not waste much time before getting right into the battle between the cowboys and aliens, which is a good thing. He gets the action going and it never really stops. And he does make things a little more interesting when it comes to the characters.
Ella Swenson (Olivia Wilde) has seen her friends kidnapped before and knows Lonergan can lead her to some answers, but she isn’t telling him everything. Dolarhyde has a reputation of being a tough, ruthless businessman who has had the entire town of Absolution living in fear for who knows how long. His son (Paul Dano) is a huge troublemaker and loves to threaten anyone and nothing can be done because of who his father is. But no one really knows who Dolarhyde is and his appearance can be deceiving.
Then, there is Lonergan, who slowly starts to piece together who he is and where he has been. He has completely forgotten about the life he had and as he starts to regain some of his memory, it becomes more and more clear as to what kind of man he was and now the type of man he has to be in order to keep himself and everyone else alive.
Cowboys & Aliens is ambitious, but there is not a lot of risk-taking. At the beginning, you have no idea what you’re going to get, making everything more suspenseful and unpredictable. But as the movie continues, the story loses its mystique and becomes more standard. And that should not happen with a movie like this with the mixing of sci-fi and westerns.
Overall, the movie is a fun ride and entertaining enough to be called good. Craig and Ford together onscreen is cool and they are completely invested in what they are doing. I think there was this expectation of Cowboys & Aliens to hold more intrigue and thrills due to its interesting premise, but it falls short of that. However, you can’t say Favreau and the rest of the gang didn’t try.
“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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