Cowboys & Aliens (2011) PG-13

I think we can all agree that this film appeared intriguing on paper. Cowboys, aliens, James Bond (Daniel Craig), Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and the director of Iron Man (Jon Favreau). However, historically westerns don't go over well with audiences and everyone seems to be sick of alien flicks that don't involve Sigourney Weaver (Alien, Aliens), myself included. The Alien vs. Predator films were all-time fails. Battle: Los Angeles was one of the worst alien films in recent memory. The remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still was an abomination. And last years Skyline was laughable to say the least. But there were some recent films that gave us hope that maybe, just maybe, we can actually sit through an alien film without wanting to smash something extremely valuable. Most notably was 2009's smash-hit District 9, which was amazingly awesome entertainment at it's best. Cloverfield was very enjoyable and quite fresh, despite a head-scratching ending (which has grown on me). War of the Worlds put Tom Cruise (Vanilla Sky, Eyes Wide Shut) to the test and he passed with flying colors, despite an extremely annoying Dakota Fanning (Man on Fire, The Runaways). One underrated alien film I really enjoyed was 2009's The Fourth Kind. One of the reasons that film worked for me was the fact that we never see any stupid CGI aliens. And of coarse there's Super 8, which was very disappointing but does have it's moments of brilliance.

As far as westerns go, there are only a handful of recent films worth mentioning. I don't consider There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men or Brokeback Mountain to be westerns, although I do understand the similarities. True Grit, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, 3:10 to Yuma and The Proposition all had the proper ingredients for a successful western. True Grit bolsters a wonderful breakout performance by Hailee Stienfeld, is wonderfully scripted and had the Coen brothers behind the camera. The Assassination of Jesse James features Casey Affleck (The Killer Inside Me, Gone Baby Gone) at his very best and is beautifully shot. 3:10 to Yuma is your more conventional guns-a-blazing western with star power, thanks to Russell Crowe (his best performance in my mind, not a big fan) and Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, The Fighter). The Proposition isn't easy to sit through, but there's no denying the wonderful cinematography and the terrific performance by Guy Pearce (Memento, The Hurt Locker). I have yet to see the well-received Meek's Cutoff yet, but I'm told it's just as grim as The Proposition (which is pretty damn grim).

So, what would happen when you combine two arguably dying genres into one film? I'm not so sure it's a question that needed to be answered, but I'll admit I was intrigued as most of ya"ll were. The films opens with our lead character Jake Lonergran (Craig) awaking in the middle of the desert with his memory erased, cuts and bruises all over his body and an odd mechanical device latched to his left wrist. While he tries to gather his thoughts three filthy ranchers approach him, gun in hand. They attempt to take him against his will back to town, where they can possibly get some cash for him. Jake doesn't like this idea, so he picks them off one by one. It's evident that this isn't the first time he's been in a pickle or handled a gun. Could he be a former soldier? Maybe a sheriff? Or better yet, a criminal? We don't know yet, but we'll find out in good time.

Jake, who is suffering from amnesia, rides into the town of Absolution on one of the ranchers horses. He sneaks into a church searching for something to heal his wounds and maybe get some sleep. It's there that he meets Preacher Meacham (Clancy Brown). Meacham is cautious at first but eventually helps sew up Jake's wounds. Meanwhile, just outside the local tavern the town drunk/idiot (Paul Dano) is going on a rant and blasting off shots all over the village. The town doctor (Sam Rockwell) and tavern owner tries to calm Percy (the drunk) down. Jake overhears the argument so he comes to Doc's aid and overtakes Percy. Percy is irate so he fires a shot that accidentally hits the deputy sheriff. Sheriff Taggart (Keith Carradine) is forced to arrest Percy Dolarhyde despite the fact that Percy's father, Woodrow (Ford), practically runs the town.

Now that all the commotion is over, Jake goes inside the tavern for a couple drinks. However, Sheriff Taggart instantly recognizes Jake from a wanted poster in his office. Turns out Jake is wanted for theft and murder. Taggart gathers his best men to subdue Jake, but Jake is ready for their attack. He once again puts on a display of violence as he takes down the Sheriff and his four men. But a woman (Olivia Wilde) smashes a bottle over Jake's head, knocking him unconscious. This strange woman named Ella seems infatuated with Jake, but yet knocked him out.

Jake awakes once again with a massive headache but this time in the slammer, opposite a now sober Percy. Percy mocks the arrested Jake, but Jake gets the last laugh after he slams Percy's head into one of the metal bars. Just outside of town strange, unexplainable things are happening all over. Rich, cattleman Woodrow Dolarhyde is furious after a handful of his steer are mysteriously burned and slain. This issue has to be put on the back-burner when he gets word about his son being incarcerated.

He heads to town and demands Percy be released immediately. Sheriff Taggart isn't budging, but Woodrow threatens to overtake the Sheriff and his men. Before they can settle this debate some strange lights appear in the distance with everyone in town on the scene. Before long, it's clear that strange alien flying machines are approaching them. No one has any idea of what to do as they're in awe of these machines. Before they can do anything these flying machines begin to pick the townsfolk off, one by one. They don't kill anyone, but they snatch people with their web-like lassos. The device on Jake's wrist activates and he's blasts his way out of jail. He uses the device to shoot down one of the space-ships, but not before they take Percy, Sheriff Taggart, Doc's wife Maria (Ana de la Reguera) and dozens of others. They call these strange things "demons."

They finally get a look at the space-ship but it's empty, and a demon is on the loose. They decide that they will attempt to find their loved ones the next morning. If all this sounds rather formulaic and boring, it's because it unfortunately kind of is. So, the next morning Woodrow, his trusted servant Nat (Adam Beach), Doc, Meacham, Ella, Sheriff Taggart's grandson Emmett (Noah Ringer) and Jake hit the road to try and find their friends and family. Jake is still piecing his life back together, one flashback at a time. He comes to terms that he's a criminal, and finally remembers how he got that device on his wrist. I won't give away too much information on this subject.

Thanks to Nat's Indian tracking skills they aren't far behind the injured demon. After a long day, night falls on the land and they take shelter in a boat. Jake and Ella get to know each other better; it's obvious they have some chemistry. However, she's still very mysterious and he doesn't quite trust her yet. Meanwhile, the demon they're tracking kills the preacher and Jake scares it off with his wrist-gun. From here Jake runs into his old gang, they get captured by crazy Indians and eventually find the demon's home-base. You can probably guess what happens when it's all said and done, but that's nothing new I suppose.

The script, which was written by seven different people, just isn't very crisp. While there's plenty of action, there are just too many boring spurts that had me and the rest of the audience yawning. The cinematography, by Matthew Libatique (Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream), is phenomenal which comes as no surprise. The costumes are fantastic, thanks to one of the best in the business Mary Zophres (No Country for Old Men, True Grit).

As far as the performances go, they certainly aren't bad. Daniel Craig (Casino Royale, Layer Cake) is effectively bad-ass, especially early in the film. Harrison Ford (Raiders of the Lost Ark) has his moments, but he's definitely not the actor he used to be. Sam Rockwell's (Moon, Choke) character was rather meaningless. He's one of my favorite actors, but he should of stayed clear of this project. Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood, The Extra Man) didn't fit in and his character was way over the top. Clancy Brown (The Shawshank Redemption, Starship Troopers) is terrific, and it's a shame he's not in more films. There's a fun little performance by Walton Goggins ("Justified") worth mentioning here as well. Of all the performances no one was better than Olivia Wilde (TRON: Legacy, Alpha Dog). Really for the first time she shows some serious range here. We still don't know what she's capable of, acting wise, but this film should lead to huge roles down the road.

It's pretty simple folks, this film doesn't need to be seen on the big screen. It's a DVD rental at best, and that's unfortunate because I had such high expectations just a few short weeks ago. Here are a few things this film made me realize: 1) Harrison Ford's career is over. 2) Olivia Wilde can actually act. 3) Aliens are no longer fun. 4) Critics are right at least 80% of the time. 5) Maybe Jon Favreau needs to stick to acting.

While there may not be a ton of good films to check out at your local theater, this certainly isn't one of them. Captain America and Horrible Bosses are definitely worth catching and I've heard good things about the new Planet of the Apes film and Crazy, Stupid, Love. If you're a Harry Potter fan then you'll probably enjoy his eighth and final quest. August doesn't look to be a mammoth month for films, so I'm looking forward to Oscar contender season (which usually starts in October and ends in December).
C+