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‘Cowboys & Aliens,’ as sci-fi western, tumbles
‘COWBOYS & ALIENS’
Grade: C
Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of western and sci-fi action and violence, some partial nudity and a brief crude reference
Credits: directed by Jon Favreau; cast includes Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde
Running time: 1:58
Movie
Cowboys and Aliens
1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution.The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde. It's a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.
By Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel
Daniel Craig carries a Steve McQueen cool — a man of few words toughness — in his latest film. And had McQueen ever taken on a Western that also involves bug-eyed aliens kidnapping the locals, he’d have played it a lot like the Once and Future James Bond.
Though maybe he’d have picked a different hat.
“Cowboys & Aliens” — the title leaves out the Indians, the desperadoes and the homesteaders — is a perfectly serviceable B-movie in the modern mold — lots of money, lots of stars, lots of explosions and lots of credited screenwriters. That it lacks the snap, crackle and kapow of the summer’s better comic book blockbusters isn’t surprising. With all this effort riding on a big, expensive and rushed studio summer picture, the real miracle is that any of them come to life.
We meet Craig’s mostly silent stranger in the desert. He wakes up on the road to Absolution. There’s this heavy bracelet on his left wrist. He’s got a nasty gut wound.
Only two types of folks get shot in the Old West. Is he a criminal or a victim?
“I don’t remember.”
“Got a name, friend?”
“I don’t know that, either.”
“What DO you know?”
“English.”
After he fends off a gang of yokels intent on dragging him into town for possible “RE-ward” money, after he slaps around the spoiled punk son (Paul Dano, channeling the young Bruce Dern) of the town boss, after he’s been arrested for being Jake Lonergan — a wanted man, Jake finds out what the wrist-band does.
It shoots laser blasts at the alien spaceships that start out as “Close Encounters” lights in the night sky and then swoop down for an air strike on the dusty village where the preacher (Clancy Brown, very good), the sheriff (Keith Carradine, excellent), saloon keeper (Sam Rockwell, not bad), prostitute (Olivia Wilde, all-cheekbones) and ruthless cattle boss (an always scowling Harrison Ford) reside.
And since these “demons” are lassoing the locals and the stranger has the only thing that can shoot them, he gets drafted into a posse to get those locals back.
The story is a simple hybrid — “Rio Bravo” Western glued to “Star Wars” sci-fi quest. Round up friends, mount up, chase the bad guys, and free the hostages. And watch out for those Tie Fighters guarding the Death Star!
The Western works better than the science fiction here, as director Jon Favreau (“Iron Man”) struggles to get comfortable with the genre and his cast struggles to look comfortable on horses.
After a promising start, presenting Craig’s character as a man of mystery, Favreau’s movie sets out to solve that mystery, and every other one that you might imagine in this situation or that one. The situations pile up as we have the obligatory encounter with a version of the Hole in the Wall Gang, black-toothed rustlers and robbers, and a band of Native American warriors.
And the less mysterious “Cowboys & Aliens” is, the more tedious it becomes. See it if it’s your thing. But don’t go around yelling “FRANCHISE” at this three-legged horse just yet.