Walking into this movie you know what you are going to be getting, and if you don't it may be time to stop reading this blog. Jon Favreau promised his audience both cowboys and aliens and by god that is what you get, just not much else.Favreau could have taken this movie in a couple different directions, he chose to take the mixing of two genres that have been lampooned in more recent history and decided to make it a serious action movie. Then there was the decision of which genre to focus on, and as the title denotes he gives the Western top billing over Sci-Fi and follows the traditional Western format. We get almost all the archetypes of the Western from the mysterious stranger who rolls into town to face offs against thieves and injuns. The only difference being the alien abductions, but even these aliens are using lassos and looking for gold.
Favreau has experience working with comic books and knows what he needs to tell a good story. I never read the comics but in Cowboys and Aliens he provides very little depth to the story and focuses on hitting all the right beats. Much like Westerns of the past there is very little downtime for our characters, as soon as one problem is faced the next obstacle presents itself in the very next shot. It felt almost overwhelming trying to squeeze everything in. And while there were plenty of beautiful landscapes to film as they rode across the Arizona territory we learn very little about our characters as there is no time to explain let alone time for exposition of Harrison Ford's character.
There are a lot of cooks in this kitchen with big names like Spielberg, Grazer and Howard just three of the 16 producers on staff and a story written by eight different people. Yet they still follow the same formula of Western story telling. The aliens more or less just seem to be a replacement for Indians just harder to kill and cooler looking. The genre rules don't really seem to meld together until the aliens start appearing more often on screen.
Our movie opens on Daniel Craig, our mysterious outsider, we know little about him and he probably knows less about himself. From the outset we learn he has little to say and can handle himself in a fight as you would expect from any cowboy sporting a white shirt. I couldn't decide if Daniel Craig wasn't talking because he was going for a Steve McQueen cool of letting his actions do the talking or if he felt he didn't readily master the Western accent. Whatever the reason, it adds to the mysterious persona of our hero who does a fine job displaying gritty toughness.
Second billing goes to Harrison Ford who has been trying out the tough guy with the heart of gold act for a little while. Here he plays the hardened army officer turned cattle herder who seems to control the town with an iron fist as he is the only source of income. He is fine in a fairly underdeveloped role always with a little scowl on his face; I saw this character in his last few movies and am still left feeling he could be doing more. He never shows his charisma till the end of the movie playing this type of character and you can't help but feel you are missing out.
Our other actors do their job just find, and are in fact quite good performing their one note. The actors of note are Olivia Wilde who seems to be the babe of choice in movies coming out and Clancy Brown who does a great job in a small role as the preacher. Less impressive is the child actor and Adam Beach reprising his only role as Indian guide, but I suppose it’s not a bad job to have being Hollywood's go to Native American. Sam Rockwell does fine, but unfortunately doesn't have a whole lot to do with other bigger names above him on the marquee.
The premise had all the potential in the world with a cool idea and a lot of great talent behind the project. With such a blunt title and coming from a graphic novel you expect something cool and fun to watch. Instead the creative team took a hard-line on the rules and execution. Everyone took themselves far too seriously and it showed, mostly on our lead actors’ faces. C+
