At some point, you probably have to appreciate the fact that nobody phoned in this one.
Daniel Craig wakes up in the desert of the Old West. He’s a little worse for wear – no shoes, no belt, no weapon, but a curious metal anachronism is strapped to his wrist. What does it do? Why is it there? Why doesn’t it come off? Gimmick here is its clear from Craig’s expression that he remembers none of it. That’s some pretty good acting. Normally, you’d want some exposition to let the audience in on the joke. Here, none is needed – that speaks to acting and direction (Jon Favreau). Naturally, Craig is then set up by mounted rustlers; luckily, he’s a badass and even more luckily his badass instincts take over even though he can’t remember squat. He’ll be OK.
The film starts as a standard Eastwood western – Craig simply keeps getting pushed around, tested by the xenophobic locals just to gauge reaction. And then Aliens show up. Did I mention xenophobia?
Now don’t lose track of what gives this film its edge in the realm of ridiculous: aliens in the Wild West. In the world of Cowboys & Aliens, they didn’t cheat us on cowboys or aliens. Say, teams claim themselves to be “cowboys”, but never name themselves “aliens,” do they? Wouldn’t you like to see the Washington Redskins take on the Dallas Aliens? I digress. There are aliens; there’s even some probing. And there are scraggly men battling spaceships with six-shooters. Oh, and there are redskins, too. Cowboys & Aliens is an impressive mess of incongruencies.
If you’re sold on the title, I don’t believe you’ll be disappointed.
Harrison Ford has his first good role in years; his immersion into the World of Crotchety now complete, Harrison’s roles are limited to ones which require somebody old and irascible to be old and irascible. Playing the local heavy is probably somewhere he should return. If he’d consider, I bet Harrison would make a decent mob boss. Paul Dano also shows up, apparently because it’s a western.
Olivia Wilde takes her turn as Rose Byrne in this film, which is to say she’s pretty enough to garner attention and a sizable role, but leaves little impression in the wake. I guess Rose was out this week; she’ll be in the next one, I’m sure.
Rated PG-13, 118 Minutes
D: Jon Favreau
W: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby & Steve Oedekerk (six guys wrote this film. Six! You’d think it would flow a little better; especially for an adapted screenplay.)
Genre: Graphic novel in movie form
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Um, cowboys? Wait! No. Aliens? I’m not sure.
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Confused old people.
