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COWBOYS AND ALIENS
July 2011
Production Companies Presenting Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Reliance Entertainment
in association with Relativity Media
Imagine Entertainment, K/O Paper Products, Fairview Entertainment, Platinum StudiosCast, First Billed Only: Daniel Craig, Abigail Spencer, Buck Taylor, Matthew , Cooper Taylor, Clancy Brown, Paul Dano, Chris Browning, Adam Beach, Sam Rockwell
Directed by John Favreau
Cowboys & Aliens had its genesis in a 2006 graphic novel written by Fred Van Lente & Andrew Foley illustrated by Dennis Calero & Luciano Lima.That Graphic novel was based on an original screenplay, written in 1989 by David Reskin and David Chute and a 2002 graphic novel written by Tom Arvis.
Date seen July 29, 2011 at Cinemagic Westbrook, Maine
Directed by John Favreau
Cowboys & Aliens had its genesis in a 2006 graphic novel written by Fred Van Lente & Andrew Foley illustrated by Dennis Calero & Luciano Lima.That Graphic novel was based on an original screenplay, written in 1989 by David Reskin and David Chute and a 2002 graphic novel written by Tom Arvis.
Date seen July 29, 2011 at Cinemagic Westbrook, Maine
Image via WikipediaThe Old West.. where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world. 1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). It's a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he's been... Written by Universal Pictures
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409847/
Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman described the film as "Unforgiven with aliens landing." IMDB.com
 Image via Wikipedia | |
| The cast of Cowboys & Aliens at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con featuring Harrison Ford, Jon Favreau, Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde |
When I was young we played Cowboys and Indians and had a "fort" of rough wood culled from the woods around our house that we thought was just like the stockade on F-Troop (dating myself). Westerns had a formula and a cast of archetypal characters: The owner of the ranch or whatever came in 3 flavors, sometimes the Sheriff substituted for the Owner.
- Rough, nasty Jerk who would either be reedemed or get his comeuppance,
- Good, honor bound, probably church going older statesman, usually a widower, and about 98 percent of the time, a white male
- A woman, very occasionally a homesteader usually a widow. In the 1960s the usual outcome was either that she continued as she was or she found a man to take the burden from her weary, feminine shoulders. Barbara Stanwyk played just such a lady on the Big Valley
- The bar maid or owner, Kitty, portrayed by Anita Blake in Gunsmoke.
The Ranch Hand
The Sheriff
The limping veteran of the Mexican War, or the Civil War
The Cook, usually Asian
Family
The Indian/Mexican child being kept on as, a sort of family cum unpaid retainer.
The Outlaw, Ends up redeemed and or dead.
An over riding theme in the genre seems to be redemption. That is about what we are looking at in Cowboys and Aliens.
Somewhere along the way I put aside my tom foolery and became a girl; westerns went out the window unless they were Mel Brooksian comedies. However, when I saw the clip in the theatrical previews before Black Swan I was enthused. Who could have thought of a more brilliant name? Immediately I was struck by the irony of the title on several levels and how very, very clever it was. Would there be any more reason to create a movie than to exploit the absolute brilliance and simplicity of the title.
As other reviews have said, the film pays homage to every Western Shoot-Em-Up convention. The conventions were also played for all they were worth. Other reviews point to Sam Rockwell's portrayal of Doc, the oft-abused tavern owner with the wire rims and greased hair.
Some issues I had
Stereotyped portrayal of the native American tribe that initially captures the band of townspeople chasing the aliens. Apparently the aliens have been destroying and kidnapping the aboriginal peoples of the Western Frontier as well. The Indian chief does all but say "How." And, the tribe seems to speak the exact same language of Harrison Ford's character's (Dollarhyde,) foster-son Nat who unabashedly adores Dollarhyde.They even have a hallucinogenic tea that cures amnesia—quick someone get his email address to the soap opera writers!
Pace: Good at times like the start, but periods where they are riding out many days, felt the same to me. A little less time arguing about how to attack and a little more time doing it
The Aliens: I never felt I got a good look at them.Additionally, I thought the effects creating them were a bit crude and stop action. I also didn't believe the alien physiology.
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Jake's Character: An injured guy wakes up in the desert wearing an odd bracelet. As seen in the previews, he fights like a martial arts master. This ability to be incredibly perceptive and fight is extremely supernatural, or at least enhandced of behavior one wouldn't expect in the common western frontier outlaw. They didn't have martial arts studios down the street then. So, I was assuming his abilities meant he was an alien. These abilities are never explained.
The script felt dull, bloated. There was not much for an actor to use to express any emotional range.
The script felt dull, bloated. There was not much for an actor to use to express any emotional range.
I have never seen a female character in a Western, Ella for example wear a calico dress with a gun belt. Nor, as we see in the first bar scene would a woman be in a bar unaccompanied. I find WIlde's portrayal of her character, Ella quite bland, as if she is afraid of Daniel Craig.
All parties, the townsfolk, the aboriginal Americans the outlaws come to the idea of spaceships and such mighty quickly. Have they been reading Jules Verne?
While the idea is original, that is the insertion of the Sci-Fi genre into the Western genre. It does little to advance either. Once you get the idea and the peculiarities inherent in the mix the film becomes more or less predictable.
Things I liked:
Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford make a great team, a Robert Redford and Paul Newman kind of team. They play well off each other. More please.
Daniel Craig riding a horse in a languidly, in a Western style with one hand ready to grab his gun. There is nothing in his bio to indicate how long he's been riding or if he ever had ridden. He is mentioned as a good athlete in his IMDB bio, but he has the kind of seat you don't often see except in people who ride a lot. More please!
Oh, the languid may be the Bo-Derek-running-in-slow motion-on-the-beach* kind of languid—entirely in my mind.
At first I didn't like the conflicted nature of the characters, Ford's character, Dollarhyde, runs hot and cold all over his Native American foster son, Nat; played beautifully by Adam Beach. Then he's kind to the sheriff's grandson who is mostly terrified out of his wits.
Craig's Jake doesn't know who he is, but he doesn't trust Olivia, then predictably, he saves her and is really nice. What it shows me is that people aren't black or white. Gray is not a monotonic color. Westerns are a lot about redemption. In the olde tymes you could become someone else in the push west. But even then you could redeem yourself. Even if not in the eyes of society you could come to grips with your past personally.
The cinematography is gorgeous of course. They were filming where a bad shot would be hard to find, California (okay you could find a bad shot and I think I saw those rocks in a few episodes of Star Trek), and New Mexico. It's been a long time since I saw that many people riding horses through that landscape and it is stunningly filmed. The camera makes this dry desert look lush.
I did enjoy parts of the movie but the bottom line was that I felt it slow. Lot's of riding from here to there that I didn't need to see. It is predictable but also provides excitement in some areas and banality in others. It was ambitious and it is pretty. It's a toss up. If you see or saw it, I would like to know what you think. Would you go again, wait for it to come out on DVD or can it all together?
