As John Boot writes on the PJM homepage, “Cowboys & Aliens Does in Fact Offer Cowboys and Aliens,” so it’s got that going for it at least:
It turns out that this part of the West is being besieged by alien gunships, a development no one seems to think is particularly shocking even though airplanes haven’t been invented yet, but then again these guys drink so much straight whisky maybe they’ve seen a lot of strange sights in the sky before. The aliens streak through town mowing down cowpokes with laser rays but capture others with (and here is another witty detail) what amount to lariats.
These victims get whisked off to a place unknown, for no clear purpose, but another mysterious stranger in town (Olivia Wilde) seems to know a little more about them than the rest. It turns out that she is a member of that most uncanny species — the back-story delivery device. It’s her job (as she has wide experience in these matters) to tell the boys (and us) what the aliens are up to and why. They want gold, it turns out. Because this is a Western. What else would they be after? If it’s microchips, they’re in the wrong century.
At some point Cowboys & Aliens crosses a line and stops aspiring to being the sand-in-your-boots Clint Eastwood movie it started as. In the last half hour or so, it becomes a clash-of-the-galaxies shoot-em-up in the vein of Starship Troopers (though not as campy or as violent). That would be fine if as much care had gone into the sci-fi aspects as the Western ones. Instead, the noisy but only mildly thrilling climax proceeds by the numbers. As in Independence Day the previously invulnerable aliens — who are bigger, stronger and faster than horses — suddenly become a little too easy to kill for no reason other than that the screenwriters have decided it’s time for the “tide is turning” phase of the script.
Its star is best-known for appearing in another science fiction film or three set in an even more distant frontier; after years of being bitterly estranged from his co-star, the two recently reunited, albeit briefly:
Finally, if you’d like to see westerns with even more imporable premises, the Independent Film Channel Website proffers “The 10 least realistic cowboy movies of all time (with video).”
Surprisingly, Zachariah didn’t make the cut.
And finally, from ITC
The supposed on-set nickname for the movie: “3:10 to Yoda.”
Been done before. When I was a kid the local theatre ran a saturday serial with cowboys and aliens. Starring Buster Crabbe, I think.
My son and I both thought the movie was terrific. Okay, it’s no blade runner, but was pretty good. Why is it movies with aliens set in the future or current day are “acceptable,” but aliens that visit Earth a few hundred years ago are not?
I’ve gotten more interested in the “Weird Western” genre since I accidentally ended up writing one. I may watch the movie out of professional interest, but it doesn’t sound like it’s as good as I’d like it to be.
Please, let’s give some credit to Firefly, and Joss Whedon, for inventing the genre?
We went this morning and thought it was great. Not perfect, but worth the tickets and lots of fun. True, it’s not much about the aliens except as a device that drives everyone’s journeys, but fighting the aliens is fun, too.
I made a point of not reading any reviews before hand. The less I know before hand the better the movie is because I have fewer expectations. I’m finding this goes for all movies. If I’m know I’m planning to see it, I want to go into it “fresh”. I don’t want to know half of the plot.
I think that people spend a great deal of time ruining their own movie experiences.
Surprisingly, Zachariah didn’t make the cut.
Neither did The Valley of Gwangi. Best cowboys-and-dinosaurs movie evah.
previously invulnerable aliens
They have a semihard shell which includes a high collar. They were never invulnerable. However, the cowboys (and indians) are able to use the aliens contempt against them. The plot made more sense than most alien movies. Even their choice of going to a high gravity source rather than the asteroids is explained by their xenophobic desire to destroy other species (which they did before encountering humans.)
Looks like this film got Smurfed at the box office:
http://www.deadline.com/2011/07/first-box-office-cowboys-aliens-40m-smurfs-29m-crazy-stupid-love-18m/
Lots of interesting comments on that article, about both movies. =^[.]^=
Please, let’s give some credit to Firefly, and Joss Whedon, for inventing the genre?
Joss Whedon hardly invented the Weird Western genre. It’s been around for quite a while, and has taken a number of different forms.