Down through the years there’s been a long list of popular, memorable and successful combinations: Batman and Robin, Bert and Ernie, Peanut Butter and Jelly. “Cowboys & Aliens” will never join that list.
While this is a unique premise for an action film – having unfriendly visitors from space attack the residents of a small western town in the late 1800’s – the bottom line is the movie is more bizarre than entertaining, and practically everything in it doesn’t work. Which is surprising because “Cowboys & Aliens” is directed by Jon Favreau, who had big success with his two “Iron Man” films. Six writers are credited with working on the script and the movie has 16 producers (including Favreau, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and Steven Spielberg).
This was one of the summer’s most highly-anticipated films, and the trailer led us to believe it was going to be a lot of fun. Instead “C&A” starts way too slow and is far too serious than it should be. Daniel Craig plays Jake, a cowboy who wakes up one day bleeding from a nasty wound and with a piece of metal strapped to his wrist. Jake can’t remember who he is or how he got into this mess but soon he finds out that he’s a wanted man.
Jake is taken into custody by the town sheriff but before he can be sent to the county jail the aliens attack and steal many of the townspeople. Jake may be able to save them because of the metal wrist band (which turns out to be a weapon) so he joins members of the town (including Harrison Ford’s character, a cowboy war hero) in a rescue posse. And the rest of the very long two-hours (that seem like three) is the cowboys tracking and battling the evil creatures, who are more like monsters than traditional aliens.
My plot summary makes “Cowboys and Aliens” sound a lot more interesting that it really is. To start, the first half-hour of the film is dominated by an obnoxious kid named Percy, who is the son of Harrison Ford’s character, so things get off to a bad start. And even when the action kicks-in, there’s nothing interesting or exciting. In fact at times even the actors seem uninterested. Yes, I know Favreau is trying to remind us that this is a western, and westerns are often slow, with very basic dialogue. But he takes that style to the extreme.
Technically, “C&A” has heap of problems: the editing is sloppy and choppy and the soundtrack is way over the top. As for the action scenes, they range from ridiculous to hilarious (unintentionally), highlighted by one scene in which Craig jumps from his horse onto a flying spacecraft. In fact, one of the best things I can say about this film is that it’s not in 3D.
The supporting cast includes Sam Rockwell, Olivia Wilde and Keith Carradine, who all probably thought they were going to be part of a classic, and not one of the worst films of the year.
“Cowboys & Aliens” is rated PG-13 for all the action violence and frightening elements, but there’s so much gore I’m surprised it’s not R. It’s definitely not for kids or really anyone who’s looking to get their money’s worth from a movie.
On The Official Kid Critic Report Card, “Cowboys & Aliens” gets a D. Favreau and everyone involved in this film do deserve some credit for trying something different. But instead of making a great Western/Science Fiction combo, the result is a disaster movie.