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Saturday, July 30, 2011

MOVIE REVIEW: COWBOYS AND ALIENS

IN THEATERS

COWBOYS AND ALIENS



Based on the graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Cowboys & Aliens starts in 1800s Arizona, where the local cowboys, headed by gunslinger Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig), and the indigenous Apache tribe have been feuding fiercely for quite a while. Their skirmish is interrupted, however, by the appearance of a spaceship, commanded by an alien creature that's bent on enslaving the human race. It's time for a six-gun shoot-out between these cattle rustlers and space invaders, and there might even be a temporary peace between the cowboys and Indians as they both take aim at these extraterrestrial uninvited guests. Jon Favreau directs from a script by Star Trek scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, with help from Lost's Damon Lindelof. Olivia Wilde, Harrison Ford, and Sam Rockwell fill out the headlining cast. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi

Director: Jon Favreau

Cast: Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano

Release Date: Jul 29, 2011

Rated PG-13 for Intense sequences of western and sci-fi action and violence, some partial nudity and a brief crude reference

Runtime: 1 hr. 58 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure, Suspense/Thriller

Review:

Cowboys and Aliens is the type of film that should just reek of fun. A galloping mash up of genres that keeps you excited and thrilled throughout. Instead, Jon Favreau delivers a dour film that rarely thrills and occasionally falls into motionless boredom. As a film, it’s mostly inert moving forward only because it must. The characters are all variations of classic film characters and there’s not much of a twist brought to them here. There’s nothing interesting about any of the characters or particularly deep. This would be entirely forgivable if the spectacle of it all was rousing and exciting. The cast assembled is an impressive collection stars and stellar character actors. Daniel Craig is a sight in his full cowboy get up but he’s not asked to do much but pose and occasionally say something. Harrison Ford seems barely interested in the film or role. His lines are delivered like he’s in a hurry to get off the set. Olivia Wilde isn’t asked to do much but look out of place and then really be out of place in the latter half of the film. Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano, Adam Beach, Keith Carradine, Walton Goggins and David O’Hara would all make a hell of a film in their own right but here’s they’re mostly wasted in pointless bit parts that could have been filled by mannequins. With the assembled talent behind and in front of the camera you’d expect a somewhat passable film by default. Sadly this overlong comic adaptation is devoid of any fun or originality.

D

11 comments:

  1. oh man. really liked this movie. Harrison was kind of that gruff grandfatherly like character, a character who i thought was way more substantiated than jeff bridges's character in true grit, for instance. i really enjoyed it for what it was.

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  2. Candice, I really wanted to love this film but just couldn't help but be bored most of the time. Believe me, I was more than ready to take it at face value, just missed the mark ofr me for some reason....

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  3. That's amazing isn't it, that with such a great cast it can be so bad. I really do like the premise of this and was eagerly awaiting it. Now I feel the deathly feeling of trepidation!

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  4. Great post! Great review!
    Thanks, Daniel!

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  5. Thank you guys for reading!

    Brent, I'm on the outside looking in on this one as most people I've spoken to liked this film, sadly I just found myself bored most of the time.

    Daniel Craig is quite good in it though. I'll be curious to see what you think of it when you see it.

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  6. Thanks for the Follow! Love your blog. Look forward to more entries! :)

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  7. Yeah this is a strange movie. It should have really good considering the cast and yet they all seem to be in sleep or cruise mode.
    I found the first half fine but once the Indians came in it really went of the boil and never recovered.
    I think maybe Craig was in Bond warm up mode as he has certainly bulked up again and several of the stunts he performed smacked of what he will be doing as Bond.
    There were things I liked but overall it had a clummsy feel to it.

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  8. The cast is great and the idea struck me as fun but everything thing was just kind of lazy. I like Craig in this role but wish he'd been given a lot more to do.

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  9. Totally agree with everything you said.

    Cowboys and Aliens should have been the fun hit of the summer but it turned out to be simply a bad film.

    Just realised I spelt Walton Goggins name wrong on my review - ever the professional!

    K :-)

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  10. I just don’t get why they took it all so serious, everybody involved should have made this a sure fire success.

    LOL, if it weren’t for spell check I’d be in a world of trouble in general!

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