These days, when Harrison Ford is involved in a film you know there will be lots of scowling and growling. Those have become the trademarks of his acting style in his latter years. It doesn't matter the genre, Ford will scowl. And for the two hour running time of Cowboys and Aliens, Ford's scowl rarely if ever leaves his face. But that's Ford of the last decade or so. However, you don't expect Daniel Craig to spend an entire movie trying to out-scowl Ford, and that's what Cowboys and Aliens director Jon Favreau has apparently asked him to do. Two scowling actors, a script that fails to find anything entertaining to do with its basic set-up (five writers are credited with the screenplay), and effects that don't match up to the summer of 2011's other major studio releases - it all adds up to a disappointing waste of an opportunity to have some fun exploring territory not often ventured into in feature films.
What's even more disappointing is how the screenplay doesn't take any chances. It's a fairly basic story: A guy (Craig) wakes up in the middle of nowhere with no idea who he is or how he got there, but with a strange mechanical device strapped to his wrist. He beats up/kills some nasty-looking dudes who show up just moments after he comes to, takes one of their horses and their dog, and heads into the nearest town - which he just happens to know the location of despite the fact he's got amnesia. There, he has a run-in with the son of the town's wealthiest citizen (a rancher named Colonel Dolarhyde, played by Ford), has a drink in a bar and meets a strange, beautiful woman (Olivia Wilde) who acts like she knows him, gets hauled into jail by the sheriff (Keith Carradine) because he's a wanted criminal named Jake Lonergan, and then bam! the aliens attack.
Enemies are forced to team up after some of the townsfolk are lassoed and taken away in alien spacecraft. Secrets are revealed, identities are made known, Olivia Wilde gets naked, and Indians enter the picture because what would a Western be without stereotypical Native Americans?
All the while, Ford scowls, acts ornery, and shows Dolarhyde is, yes, a jerk but one who actually loves his no-good son (played by Paul Dano), so he's got that going for him. Craig handles the action scenes like the pro/James Bond actor he is, but isn't given anything real interesting to say or do - other than to point his wristband at the aliens.
The rules change (the aliens don't do well in the sunlight yet in the major fight scene there's no noticeable affect from the sun), the action scenes are mildly thrilling but don't stand up next to this summer's Thor or even the lower-budgeted Super 8, and even the continuity is off (the aliens destroy the town yet it looks just fine when we return to it in later scenes, with only minor renovations are going on). And the reason why the aliens are here on our planet is a major letdown. Even their actions - yes, they probe us but fortunately not in the normal alien-probing location - don't add up. They kidnap earthlings to experiment on how best to kill us, but then all it takes is basically a hard hit or a bite and we're dead, so why all the kidnapping and probing?
Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig in 'Cowboys and Aliens'
© Universal PicturesPlus, it would have helped to have at least one character who really connects with the audience over the course of the film, and although Craig's Jake Lonergan is supposed to be that guy, the script never allows us the opportunity to really get behind this gunslinging, alien-fighting bad guy on a mission to destroy the invaders from outer space. Craig's normally engaging no matter what character he takes on, so maybe in this case it's all that scowling...
Cowboys and Aliens has a fun title, but that's where the fun begins and ends. Cowboys and Aliens is just boring. Yes, there are attacks by aliens. Yes, there are some decent (but not spectacular) action scenes. But with a title like Cowboys and Aliens, you expect a wild romp through the Wild West with interesting, colorful characters leading the way, and that's far from what's delivered here.
GRADE: C-
Cowboys and Aliens was directed by Jon Favreau and is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of western and sci-fi action and violence, some partial nudity and a brief crude reference.
Theatrical Release: July 29, 2011
