Cowboys and Aliens. Rated M (science fiction themes and violence). 118 minutes. Directed by Jon Favreau. Screenplay by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby. Based on the graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg.
It is 1873. When Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) regains consciousness in the desert, he discovers that he has a rather nasty wound on his side and a ripper of a bracelet on his wrist. “That must have been some wild, Wild West-themed office party!” he says. No he doesn’t. Sadly. He and his killer jewellery (pictured) easily account for group of murderin’, thievin’ marauders before he sets off to the town of Absolution where he finds Harrison Ford’s Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde. Colonel Dolarhyde and his cronies are holding the town to ransom due to the fact that, as the colonel’s spoilt little brat of a son Percy (Paul Dano) informs us, his Pa is responsible for all the money that is spent in the near-bankrupt little town. And almost before you can say “Was Star Wars really that long ago?”, the aliens arrive (shortly before the Indians), and everyone tries to kill everyone before they get killed. “Where did we park the car?”
Favreau (Iron Man, Iron Man 2) and cinematographer Matthew Libatique (Black Swan, the Iron Mans, Phone Booth) occasionally hit their marks, while Scott Chambliss’s (Salt, Star Trek) engaging production design delivers a particularly impressive upside down Showboat and a marvellous gold-mining spaceship. Mr Craig spends a good deal of time being Clint Eastwood to excellent effect, while Olivia Wilde (TRON: Legacy) is perfect as other-worldly Ella Swenson who might also have mistakenly stumbled onto the film set from a fashion shoot just over the hill. Mr Ford, when not looking extremely uncomfortable running about all over the place, gets a big rambling monologue moment that ends up being a compelling lesson in just how great an actor John Wayne was with this kind of material.
While it’s a vaguely better western than it is a science fiction adventure, Cowboys and Aliens is ultimately an utterly bizarre curiosity that manages to fail entirely by absolutely outstaying its welcome. And I can guarantee you won’t be the only one wondering “What on earth were they thinking?!”
This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.
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