Cowboys & Aliens. Hmm...five words for you: I didn't see that comin'! Yeah, this one never really drew a blip on my radar screen. Not because of the cast, mind you--far from it. Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford make for one doozy of a action duo. No, this one didn't register with me during it's trailer run because of the crossing of two genres. Cowboys. Aliens. It just didn't ring true. The title itself invites a nasty double-take. Cattle, gunslingers, horses and buggies meet space-men? Come on! However, when a friend insisted that I see it...I thought "well...with Harrison Ford...how bad could it be?" Answer: Not bad at all.
We open with Jake (Craig). He's waking up in the middle of nowhere. Jake doesn't know where he is, or even who he is. All he knows is that he's got a funky bracelet attached to his wrist. Stumbling into the sleepy little town of Absolution provides some answers. At least Jake learns that he's a 'wanted' man--not in the 'we love ya, Jake' sense of the word, but rather, the fugitive sense. Things turn around for ole Jake's popularity when those funky space-men show up. They invade the town in their equally funky (at least to the cow-pokes) flying machines and snatch a slew of Absolutionites. That's when Jakes bracelet comes in handy. Slowly, he starts to piece together his past, as he joins Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford) and, yadayadayada...with the company of a tribe of indians, they wage war against aliens in an effort to save their people and mankind.
It's good. Quite good, actually--good enough for 3.5 Stars. Jon Favreau directs this one and told a thoroughly entertaining story. Not an easy tale to spin either, considering we've got two genres on polar opposites. This one could have been a flop from the beginning, but add Craig and Ford in starring roles...throw in great supporting roles from Sam Rockwell, Abigail Spencer, Adam Beach, Paul Dano and Noah Ringer, and you've got something that actually works. The story itself moves along nicely and develops in a way that keeps interest piqued. The characters help that tremendously. You've got a slew of interesting characters, each well acted, and most of which experience a surge of personal growth.
All in all, Cowboys & Aliens is definitely worth a watch, and deserves consideration for a BIG screen view. Of course, since the title is supposed to create the ole, "huh...what-the-???" effect, they probably should've called it "Cowboys and Indians...and Aliens". Yeah, that might have been a tad long, but hey...give my peeps some props--after all, the Indians played a big role in this one too!
True...OUT!
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