Directed by:
Jon FavreauCinematography:
Matthew LibatiqueComposer:
Harry Gregson-WilliamsCast:
Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Clancy Brown, Noah Ringer, Paul Dano, Keith Carradine, Walton Goggins, Ana de la Reguera (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
1875. New Mexico Territory. A stranger (Daniel Craig) 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 (Harrison 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, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella (Olivia Wilde), he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents-townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors-all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival. (Universal Pictures US)
(more)Videos (33)
Reviews (12)
I was really excited to see this, even despite the strange and incomprehensible story. I thought that nothing can be more surprising than a fight between the 19th century cowboys and aliens who decide to visit an arid town in the middle of the American prairie. Let’s face it, it was all a load of hogwash, but I must admit that I had fun. The actors were cool. Their performances were standard. Harrison Ford’s might have been a bit better. He’ll probably always be charismatic. In any case, the movie’s main currency were special effects – and the authors really put a lot of work into those. It’s true that the story starts getting insane halfway through, but I didn’t really mind that much. I enjoyed it and I think that at the cinema, this experience would’ve been on a whole new level.
()
An “amazing” idea that managed to spoil the fourth Indiana Jones in a few seconds, stretched out into two hours. Initially, it looks good: Daniel Craig’s tough cowboy is cool, the western setting turned out well, the first contact with extraterrestrials is magical, the humor spot on, the visual effects perfect, and the aliens look much more impressive than the mole-like thing from Super 8. Starting with the scene of crawling out of a fire, however, things go downhill, and the subsequent deluge of cliché-ridden fast-brewing relationships between the characters and illogical moments in the action scenes just seals the movie’s sad fate. The screenwriters seemed to think that the more they go wild, the more the audience would enjoy it… Cowboys and Indians from the American Prairies, unite in an idealistic world against the alien Nazis who think of you as insects and want to steal your gold! - Bullshit.
()
What initially appears to be an unconventional B-movie, full of juicy visuals (you can see the signature the director of Iron Man), gradually turns into a pile of clichés and a dull display of various forms and quality of visual effects. It's been a long time since I've seen something so conceptually and dramaturgically mishandled, like the ending of this film. Cliché upon cliché – a final battle and a classic catharsis the likes I've seen a million times before. Perhaps nobody expected much from this film, judging by the title, and they won't get much either. I don't understand the insane budget.
()
Anyone want a screenwriter? Because Hollywood seems to have a surplus of them. Otherwise, I can't explain why Cowboys & Aliens was written by five people. And why their typewriters produced such a simple result. Nevermind. As you might have guessed, the story is the biggest (and actually the only) weakness of this film. I didn't mind that a bunch of cowboys went on the trail of a UFO just out of the blue, all convinced that "it was going where the machines went". It sounds naive, but that's just how every other thing was handled in the Wild West: Find a clue and follow it. I was more sorry about how the screenwriters botched the dialogue. They did give the tough Craig and the likeable grumpy Ford a few lines, but otherwise most of the dialogue felt heavily used. What I liked, on the other hand, was the effort not to make Cowboys & Aliens into a comedy or even a parody (I guess not enough time has passed since Wild Wild West and the filmmakers are still scared), but a full-fledged sci-fi movie. In this, I think, they succeeded, because the result is more reminiscent of The Valley of Gwangi than the aforementioned Wild Wild West. The dinosaurs may have been replaced by aliens, but no matter what situations the characters get into, you still get the feeling that you're watching a (slightly different) western that is sympathetically lightened by humor here and there and where the action is just right. The special effects are an entirely separate chapter. ILM is simply ILM, and so the alien craft look absolutely superb and irresistibly mechanical, behaving realistically like jet fighters of today, leaving a smoke trail behind them and their engine making a sensational "insect" sound. I was also pleased with the "fish-turtle" look of the aliens and the beautiful (really beautiful, I haven't seen one of those in a long time) final explosion. I also give points to Harry Gregson-Williams, who found a nice listenable compromise between western and sci-fi music, and of course to the director, without whose sense of action (the night raid on the city, the air attack in the desert, the ending) and other (the overnight stay in the boat, the meeting with Jake's gang) scenes it wouldn't have been the same. Four pure stars.
()
The women have secrets, the guys have rifles and the aliens have claws. The division of roles is just as clear as in a classic western, which applies also to the character played by Olivia Wilde, who is finally allowed to do more than just soften the impudence of the guys with her presence. Despite that, the climax doesn’t leave any doubt as to whether the good old Wild West needs women or aliens. The director’s filmography leads us to believe the opposite, but Cowboys and Aliens creates a better impression during the purely western scenes, not in the sci-fi elements. The resounding music and the camerawork making full use of the screen, recalling the times when westerns ruled. The hackneyed alien plot is dragged down to earth by the exaggerated seriousness. Though the film would need humour, the scenes without the strange parasites and with a westernised Daniel Craig are sometimes funny, at least because of the actor’s fierce tenacity. Harrison Ford has a smaller presence, though I believe his few lines are appropriately impactful. Cowboys and Aliens is summer entertainment that places minimal demands on the viewer. In some ways, such as its simple understanding of the world and emphasis on outdated manliness, it is reminiscent of the kind of films that are no longer made today. However, it didn’t manage to convince me that I should regret the fact that such films are becoming increasingly rare. 60%
()
Ads