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Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Cowboys & Aliens (2011)


Just like every other mainstream film that’s been released this year, Cowboys & Aliens is anything but inept. It’s a slickly made summer popcorn film that—as the title suggests—features cowboys and aliens duking it out in the old west. The trouble is, that’s all there is to it. No real effort was made to do anything creative with the genre mash-up; it’s just a genre mash-up for the sake of a genre mash-up. Just because you combine an average western film with a below-average alien film doesn’t mean the result is going to be above-average. Cowboys & Aliens plays like it was made by people who wanted to make an adequate summer movie and nothing more, and that ultimate goal of mediocrity made me hate the film all the more. It also suffered because the last two movies I’d seen this year were Captain America: The First Avenger and Attack the Block, made by the Joes Johnston and Cornish, respectively. These films were made by passionate people who honestly cared about making fun, energetic movies that rose above everything else. Cowboys & Aliens is infinitely more calculated, and based on the box office results, audiences are starting to notice when they’re being fed junk food.


Daniel Craig plays Jake Lonergan, who starts the film by waking up in the middle of the desert without a clue as to who he is. When he travels into a nearby town, it turns out he’s one of the most wanted fugitives in the area. Just as things start to get hairy for him, a bunch of aliens attack the town and kidnap several of the citizens. Now Lonergan, along with Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), Doc (Sam Rockwell), Ella Swenson (Olivia Wilde) and more, must venture out in order to find those they had lost. Along the way, they encounter thieves, Native Americans, and even more aliens.

The film’s concept is not its most problematic aspect—in fact, I’ve been looking forward to this film more than most—but what’s disappointing is just how inelegantly the western and science fiction elements were combined. For long stretches of time, Cowboys & Aliens feels like a reasonable enough Hollywood western. Then the aliens come along, and whenever they do the effect is 1) jarring, and 2) criminally unexciting. The result feels like just about every other summer blockbuster that’s been released in the past ten years; this one just happens to have cowboys… and aliens! While you can’t accuse the Cowboys & Aliens team of false advertising, it’s a huge disappointment when a film sticks entirely to a formula that’s been written over and over again since the first explosion was ever captured on film. Screenplay credit went to five different writers, proving my belief that the more people touch the screenplay the blander the final movie will ultimately be.

In situations like this, it’s often up to the cast to add some wit to the proceedings. Unfortunately, stars Craig and Ford really don’t contribute all that much to the story. (Though to be fair, neither character has all that much to them.) Gone is the Daniel Craig that so effortlessly added emotional depth to the usual action star stoicism in movies like Casino Royale. Here, all we get is the constantly pouting face, and occasionally he decides to kick some alien butt. Not to mention his shaky-at-best American accent, which seems to fluctuate throughout the film. (Not that you frequently notice, as he doesn’t have a ton of dialogue.) Harrison Ford’s performance has its moments, but eventually it’s clear he’s not all that invested in the production either. Only the supporting cast has anything exciting to offer; Rockwell is always a blast to see onscreen, and Paul Dano—who must be unfamiliar with the phrase “take it down a notch”—gives a, uh, memorable performance as Ford’s son. While it’s cartoonish work, at least he looks like he’s trying to leave an impact.

Jon Favreau hit it big as an action filmmaker when he directed Iron Man in 2008, but the two films since (Iron Man 2 and Cowboys & Aliens) have taken a precipitous step down in quality. (I liked Iron Man 2 well enough when I first saw it, but time has not done it any favors.) Cowboys & Aliens seems to indicate that much of Iron Man’s success came as a result of Robert Downey, Jr.’s magnetic performance in the lead role. This gave him something substantial to work with, and thus he made a terrific superhero movie. Three years later, he has made a film which is infinitely duller and far more mercenary. While his leads don’t help him out, Favreau does little to elevate Cowboys & Aliens even to the level of dumb fun. It’s certainly dumb, but not a lot of fun.

GRADE: D+

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