Indeed, much of Cowboys & Aliens plays as if it’s being held in check. Meanwhile, Favreau – whose Iron Man was loose, light-hearted and witty – jettisons that tone and goes out of his way to downplay scenes that are ripe for good-natured laughs. Harrison Ford – who managed a jaunty demeanor throughout the Indiana Jones films – sounded like perfect casting, until you realize he’s been given an extraneous part as a grouchy cattle baron. The right people were in place to pull this off.

With its sublimely ridiculous premise, however, Cowboys & Aliens’ true calling was to be a rollicking, audience-rousing action comedy, less a mashup of Predator and Unforgiven than a mashup of Shanghai Noon and Men in Black.

As a fan of Westerns, I was perfectly happy with Cowboys & Aliens, at least until the aliens showed up. He even manages to wring tension out of a familiar saloon showdown. With his naturally hunted demeanor, Craig has the desperado drifter look down. The first 20 minutes – featuring Craig as a wounded tough guy with amnesia who walks into a desert town – are the most engaging in the film. It really depends on whether or not you give the movie extra points simply because the guys pointing guns this time are wearing cowboy hats.īecause Cowboys & Aliens never really grabs you – because it lacks the straight-up intensity of, say, Aliens – your mind starts to wander, mulling the other, better films it could have been.Īn old-fashioned Western is one of these. Director Jon Favreau and his team of screenwriters based Cowboys & Aliens on a 2006 graphic novel and he’s been clear in interviews that it was always intended to be a straight-faced action mashup. I suppose it’s not fair to criticize a picture for failing at something it never meant to achieve.

It’s a bit like the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Predator, but without the laughs. The movie is mostly interested in monster effects, abduction victims and the angst-ridden redemption of its outlaw-turned-hero (Daniel Craig). Call me silly, but I thought a movie titled Cowboys & Aliens might be fun.įor a film that features extraterrestrials lassoing cowpokes (and vice versa), Cowboys & Aliens is a surprisingly grim, clenched-jaw experience.

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