MOVIE REVIEW: Cowboys & Aliens (Spoilers)

Cowboys & Aliens

Universal Pictures



Directed Jon Favreau

Written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus Hawk Ostby

Story byMark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Steve Oedekerk

Starring Daniel Craig (Jake Lonergan), Olivia Wilde (Ella Swenson), Harrison Ford (Woodrow Dolarhyde), Sam Rockwell (Doc), Adam Beach (Nat Colorado) Clancy Brown (Meacham), Noah Ringer (Emmett Taggart) Keith Carradine (Sheriff Taggart), Walton Goggins (Hunt), Raoul Trujillo (Black Knife), David O'Hara (Pat Dolan), Paul Dano (Percy Dolarhyde), Abigail Spencer (Alice)

While lacking the rollicking humor or even the pathos of 2008's Iron Man, Cowboys & Aliens is an exciting and dramatically satisfying genre mashup which improves upon its comic source material in every conceivable facet. This tale of an amnesiac outlaw and a troubled mining community rising up against extraterrestrial oppressors bears only the slightest resemblance to that graphic novel, disposing of characters from either side of the planetary divide and populating its two hour span with a rich new ensemble and sitations. Such changes largely shift the balance toward the Cowboy side of the equation. The farther the dial lingers there and away from the alien invasion plot, the stronger the movie typically resonates. That said, there's a certain alchemy achieved in the sequences when the film straddes that line to the letter. And it all starts with a man alone in the desert, a curious shackle weighing on his wrist.

Silent and stoic, with tanned features and glacially pale eyes, Daniel Craig recalls Charles Bronson's appearance and demeanor from Once Upon a Time in the West. While the opening scene of this film doesn't mirror Leone's deliberately paced train station prologue, there's still some spaghetti to be slurped. A mysterious, unarmed hero quickly shifts the tide of a violent encounter, at first delirious and surrounded by mounted gunmen, then suddenly the last man standing, trying on his attacker's boots. It's a terrific introduction to the quiet, competent Jake Lonergan. Though he couldn't have told you as much himself. All he knows is the Queen's English, which he dispenses sparingly. He has a horse now and a dog. And this strange bracelet. He rides into the troubled town of Absolution, a mining community that never quite got that far. The place squirms beneath the thumb of a grizzled old Colonel-turned cattle baron called Dolarhyde (Ford) and his spoiled bully of a son Percy (Dano). Here, Lonergan is quickly swept up in the town's affairs, recognized as a Jesse James-esque outlaw by the local sheriff (Carradine) and relegated behind bars with the irritating Percy.

In these early scenes and then peppered throughout the rest of the film, we're treated to some really pure western fun. It's a simple setup, but the material is elevated significantly by some exceptional casting. Craig and Ford garner most of the attention, but a vast number of character actors turn up to enliven the streets of Absolution and the frontier beyond. Sam Rockwell is wearing the exact glasses and mustache you'd expect. Keith Carradine provides a nicely understated Sherrif Taggart. When we eventually meet Lonergan's old friends, Walton Goggins is there with open arms. Clancy Brown shows up for a criminally brief time as a gun-toting preacher, the first friend Lonergan has chance to make in this new chapter of his life.

As for Harrison Ford's curmudgeonly Dolarhyde, he enters the frame when several of his cattle end up mutilated, an event witnessed only by a drunken new ranch hand played by Toby Huss (otherwise known as Artie the Strongest Man…in the World!) The hand insists that the party responsible for the disappearance of his co-workers and the slaughter of the cattle was some sort of light what came out of the sky. Just as Dolarhyde is trying to grapple with the man's insistence that sky creatures killed his cows, another employee rides up with the news of Percy's arrest. Now everyone is drawn to Absolution. Just in time for an alien raid.

I mentioned that Favreau conjures up some magic when the dial is set at the exact median between Cowboy and Alien. In an element lifted from the comic and then smartly moved from daylight to darkness, the town of Absolution makes first contact with their alien visitors. What starts as an ominous riff on Close Encounters of the Third Kind with what appear to be illuminated saucers emerging from the darkness quickly escalates to a body snatching siege along the dusty streets. The juxtaposition of alien vehicles essentially lassoing men women and children of an 1873 mining town is pretty thrilling. It's not long before Lonergan figures out what that thing on his wrist can do, and the townsfolk realize there's something otherworldly preying on them which can't be explained by frontier science. The word "alien" is never spoken, though the sheriff's young grandson posits that the enemy might be demonic in nature. When the smoke clears, dozens of friends and family are gone, spirited away by the gravirty defying machines. Among the missing are the Sheriff, Percy Dolarhyde and the wife of the meek Doc (Rockwell). Nearly taken but eager to chase the invaders is a peculiar woman named Ella (Wilde). Though Lonergan urges her to stay behind, she joins the others in a search party to rescue the taken.

It's not long before we learn the true nature of Lonergan's amnesia as well as the motives and methods employed by the aliens. It's not the most sophisticated science fiction plot and the more of these aliens we see, the more I wished this was simply a straight up western. That said, these are minimalist aliens with no dialogue and relatively limited screen time until the final act. In the original comic, the aliens had much more of a presence, both visually and as verbal, distinguishable characters. Here, they're more or less a McGuffin, and I prefer that decision. There's something haunting about their uniformity and mystery. It's also more rewarding to watch the humans rally together–friends and enemies, white settlers and Apache–against something truly and literally "alien" to them. They can't even base any assumptions upon popular culture. As such it functions as a disaster film with a conflict of man vs. the unknown.

Cowboys & Aliens offers whole heaps of fun, though its surprisingly slight on laughs. It's more of an action vehicle. It's also probably less of a B movie than some viewers might expect given the title and concept. thematically, this isn't Snakes on a Plane or a Tribbles episode of Star Trek. Its aspirations are a little loftier than that, with a more thoughtful, even wistful script and moments reaching for emotional resonance. Sometimes this works and other times it falls short. In one thread, Harrison Ford's Dolarhyde wrestles with his affection for Nat, a long-time eployee with an Apache heritage. It's clear early on that Nat views Dolarhyde as a father figure, regardless of the older man's prejudiced words of dismissal. Nat is obviously the kind of son anyone would want and Percy the one you'd hope to avoid. This subtle thread is compelling until it becomes a spoken sentiment in a wince-inducing battle scene. Fairing slightly better is Dolarhyde's begrudging mentorship of young Emmett Taggart, grandson to the Sheriff. These are the kinds of scenes we want Ford to play these days (so long as we're being honest with ourselves). As for Wilde's Ella, she was much more interesting prior to her first death scene. That's the point where the film doesn't quite go Hancock, but kinda does a little. Just a little though.

Overall, I found the movie very entertaining, especially as a western. Whenever dipped too far into alien territory, there came the spurs. It's possible that this speaks more to my own sensibilities than anything else, but it must be said that I enjoy both cowboy and alien stories. As it turns out though, it's all about the sagebrush, not the stardust. 

3.5 Stars 

(Out of 5)

Read the original Cowboys and Aliens graphic novel: