Cowboys & Aliens – Review

I can still remember the first trailer I saw for Cowboys & Aliens. I don’t remember which movie it was before but I was at the theater and I was just hysterically confused. Is this a serious movie? Surely a movie with a title like Cowboys & Aliens must be a comedy, but it didn’t look like a comedy. It just seemed so outrageous. Even more outrageous was to see Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig in the movie. Were they drugged? Why on earth would they be in such a film? So what do you get when you throw Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in a True Grit meets Independence Day film? Well, it turns out a dang good movie.

Appropriately so, Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford shine the most. Harrison Ford’s role is very atypical compared to what he normally does. Harrison Ford is about as A-lister as you can get so he is normally the singular lead character in movies. It seemed odd at first to see him in a secondary role but he fits the role so well. In interviews they have discussed how Ford’s original role was going to be even smaller, but the graceful Daniel Craig pushed to let Harrison Ford have fun with the movie and this grew his dialogue. Now this is almost sacrilegious behavior in Hollywood as everyone normally fights to promote more coverage for themselves. You can definitely tell that Harrison Ford had fun making this movie.

Now as for Daniel Craig’s character . . . he’s pretty much the man. The movie starts with a bang with the opening scene showing off Craig’s awesomeness. The great thing about his character is that he is not only a stud at certain points, but he maintains his rigid confidence throughout everything. My favorite display of power was when he was handcuffed in the carriage and found a creative way to get out.

As was to be expected the aliens were at their best in the film when they were more removed and mysterious. The initial battle in the town streets at night was fantastic. The whole unknown and surprise element was played out very well. Future encounters are admittedly a little less exciting because you know what to expect from the outset.

One little thing that just seemed to work out kind of strange was Olivia Wilde’s character. At first things seem pretty clear how they will go. Daniel Craig’s woman was kidnapped and killed by aliens. In the process of trying to take down the aliens he then falls for Ella. After the alien invasion is over the two of them live happily ever after. However, that’s not quite exactly as things end because there’s a twist. The chick is an alien from another planet that got wiped out by the bad aliens but somehow she’s still alive and for some reason she came to earth to try and help the people of earth not get wiped out. Not only that be she is apparently some sort of shapeshifter and can apparently change what form she wants to assume and is also somehow immortal or something because after she died and was thrown in the fire she rose like the phoenix and walked out of the fire butt naked. Pretty much what I’m trying to get at is that her alien-ness just seemed to unnecessarily complicate things. It seems like she could have just been a human and they could have just decided to go attack the alien base and blow it up without needing the help of an alien from another planet.

Those are just a couple of minor distractions to what was overall a fantastic movie. It is fun. It is exciting. You will watch in anticipation. You will laugh. When it ends you’ll be glad you watched it. Never did I think when I first saw that trailer that the movie would end up so good.