Movie Review: “Cowboys & Aliens” (2011)

(Minimal spoilers below, but the consider the comment section unfettered.)

Let me start off clearly: this is a fun — if sometimes vaguely disturbing — movie. I’m glad I went to see it in the theater. I’m glad it was made. There’s some good acting, and the whole concept (aliens have landed in the Old West, and cowboys — and maybe some Indians — need to fight them to survive) is a lot of fun.

Now for the downsides. Of which there are many, though, bear in mind, I overall enjoyed myself.

This movie tries to do too much. There are way too many subplots, multiple romances, multiple stories being told. You have Daniel Craig as the (initially) Man with No Name, who wakes up in the desert with some alien tech locked to his wrist, who has to discover his past, find love, and seek redemption. You could do a whole movie just about him.

But wait, we also have Harrison Ford, arrogant cattle baron who lords over the local dying town the aliens are attacking, dealing with his Civil War past and a deeply disappointing son. You could do a whole movie just about him.

But wait, we also have Sam Rockwell, small town doctor and saloon keeper, worried about his wife and his dreams and how he’s disrespected. You could do a whole movie just about him.

But wait, we also have a kid who’s trying to grow to a man, a sherriff who’s trying to look after his grandson, a woman seeking vengeance on her kinfolk’s killers, a …

Well, you get the idea. There’s way too much focus on too many people here, meaning you end up shortchanging all of them. Any character you choose to root for will be underused. Any story you’re interested will be cut short.

What makes it worse is that everyone really does a pretty good job of it, Craig and Ford in particular. When they’re on screen, you want them to stay there, and when things shift away it’s irksome.  Heck, it would be fun to watch a movie about the two of them and their relationship, but even there we’re disappointed.

There are a lot of other niggling problems. The movie can’t decide on a tone. There are some the cowboy elements, obviously, munged against typical bug-hunt Aliens-style action, not to mention some slapstick comedy, but occasional psychological darkness and even horror, and then occasional socially relevant review of White/Indian relations (and the unspoken, gratefully, comparison between Whites/Indians and how the aliens themselves relate to humans).

There’s also way too much action that happens, not because it makes sense but because we either need to ratchet up the action or drag the action out. The alien behavior makes no sense, and the weaknesses it’s suggested they have are ignored by their subsequent behavior. Even their basic power level varied depending on the scene’s needs — sometimes they can stand up to a hail of bullets or arrows, other times they are conveniently dispatched by one hit.  (I’m also not convinced how they would fit in to the little scout ships we see pretty close-up).  We’ll leave aside the question of what sort of “studying” they are doing about the humans, and why they continue to seek more samples when they seem to still have plenty available  (except, of course, to ratchet up the action once again). And, of course, the aliens are stupid and (we’re told) underestimate the danger that the humans present — except that they’ve had plenty of evidence of it already, and appear to have the necessary tech to deal with the problem with no danger to themselves.

The SFX are decent — the aliens interact seamlessly with the real action.  There are no show-stopping bits, but lots of nice smaller touches.  The music and overall production are solid, though not spectacular.

There’s some decent talent behind this movie — Jon Favreau, the director, had success with the first two Iron Man movies (Robert Downey, Jr. was originally tapped in the Daniel Craig role, which would have made this a very different film).  Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who lead up the writing team (though, ominously, there are many other names there, which may be part of the problem) have done writing and production work on Hawaii Five-O, Fringe, and Alias.  Craig and Ford are both good actors, as noted, and they and the rest of the cast do a good job with what they have.  We even have (as Margie notes) some character development as we go along — people changing and growing and ending up in a different place than when they started.

For some reason, though, it just doesn’t hold together, and the rickety plot in all its different tones and colors, shudders and clanks its way over the finish line. It remains fun for its individual pieces but as a whole, the more you look at it, the worse it looks.

Disappointing.  Fun, enjoyable (as long as I remember the parts and don’t think too much about the whole), but not something I feel the need to see again any time soon (or to buy the DVD of).

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