Close Encounters of the Giddy-Up-and-Go Kind: Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig are heading for the last roundup (of killer aliens) in “Cowboys & Aliens.”
The Great Brain Robbery
Director Jon Favreau’s Western-meets-UFO-actionadventure flick forgot to saddle up a story Cowboys & Aliens **G@
Rated PG-13 • AMC Orange Park, AMC Regency Square, Carmike Amelia Island, Carmike Fleming Island, Cinemark Tinseltown, Epic Theatre St. Augustine, Hollywood River City, Regal Avenues, Regal Beach Blvd., San Marco Theatre
W
hether or not a film succeeds depends for the most part (finicky audiences aside) on four major contributors: the producers, the director(s), the screenwriter(s) and the actors. This is not to ignore the essential craft of the editor and the composer, but usually their participation is less obvious. In “Cowboys & Aliens,” three of the first four groups are represented by veritable powerhouse participants. Nonetheless, what starts off as a great concept (the title sells the tale) delivers considerably less than promised. So what went wrong? Here’s a movie with Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard among its many contributing producers, Jon Favreau (“Iron Man” flicks) as director, and in front of the camera battling the aliens the unlikely team of Daniel Craig (James Bond) and Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones). Three out of four ingredients ain’t bad, but in regard to the fourth element of good filmmaking (the screenplay), “Cowboys & Aliens” threatens to go belly-up. Based on a comic book (what movie today isn’t?), “Cowboys & Aliens” credits six writers, including the author of the original illustrated story. Their various résumés include everything from “Star Trek” and “Transformers” to “Children of Men” and TV’s “Lost.” Individually, the various writers can claim impressive credentials, particularly in light of this film’s subject matter, but together they manage to make a mush of the broth, a classic case of too many cooks spoiling potentially savory cinema. The story opens strong by resorting to some tried-and-true clichés of the Western genre. A man (Craig) wakes up in the wilderness, his memory gone — but wearing weird bracelet on his wrist. When some saddle-trash thugs try to kill him, he promptly dispatches them to Boot Hill. Riding into the frontier town of Absolution, he’s befriended by a nononsense preacher before going to a saloon and encountering the locals. Unfortunately, he also runs afoul of obnoxious punk Percy (Paul Dano), whose father just happens to be
the local cattle baron, Col. Dolarhyde (Ford). Mayhem ensues, and fearless Sheriff Taggart (Keith Carradine) is about to ship the punk and the stranger out of town for trial when Dolarhyde rides in, looking for his boy. Before any of the usual gunplay can occur, aliens show up on a roundup of their own, and their guns are considerably bigger than six-shooters. Throw into the mix a posse led by Bond and Indy, a bartender named Doc (Sam Rockwell) on a quest of his own, the aloof beauty Ella (Olivia Wilde) and even a boy and his dog, and the story careens along the screen like a runaway Conestoga. There’s also a band of dentally challenged outlaws, as well as a band of Apaches. At the end of this trail are, of course, the aliens — and a distinctly nasty and vicious lot they are. In terms of theme and plotting, “Cowboys & Aliens” is all over the place. Nearly devoid of humor, the story opts instead for lots of sentiment, most of it having to do with Harrison Ford’s rough-hewn character bonding with his sons, foster sons, Indians, etc., essentially everyone except those alien varmints. Daniel Craig’s character is given a love interest, but this is as muted as it is improbable. There’s more than one unnecessary plot whopper to explain motivation (both human and alien), but after all, this is supposed to be a movie about gunslingers and extraterrestrials. What’s fun to watch in the film, not surprisingly, are the two stars. Craig abandons his English accent to do a convincing Eastwoodesque turn, lean and mean. Like the Western icon, he mostly squints and looks tough. Ford, for his part, is a mellower version of John Wayne in “Red River,” a mean SOB but one with heart. Ford’s Dolarhyde is less onedimensional than Craig’s cartoonish outlaw, and he’s able to bring some wit and even charm to the role. “Cowboys & Aliens” could have used much more of both. Jon Favreau handles the action sequences well, just like “Iron Man,” but when the movie centers on character, he is blindsided by the superficial unfocused script. As producers, Spielberg and Howard should have lent him some support. “Cowboys & Aliens” should have been better — as it is, we’re left feeling a little saddle-sore as we ride off into the sunset. Pat McLeod themail@folioweekly.com AUGUST 9-15, 2011 | FOLIO WEEKLY | 63