Movie of the Week: Cowboys and Aliens
Aug. 22nd, 2011 08:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaceyI forgot to post this last Wednesday, so here we go.
Cowboys and Aliens does exactly what it says on the tin and I enjoyed it.
If you're willing to suspend your disbelief about the alien monsters being here for our gold and torturing humans to assess their weak points prior to killing off the human race then this is a pretty darn good cowboy movie with a difference. Daniel Craig is sufficiently believable as the (we discover later) semi-reformed outlaw dropped in the middle of nowhere with his memory wiped and an alien tech wristlet that (he soon discovers) is a weapon. I'm not a great Craig fan, but i liked him in this. I do like Harrison Ford, however, and he slips very well into the role of the (sixtyish) grizzled cattle baron who holds the town in his stern grip, and who has a no-good, overindulged son who takes advantage of Dad's power by shooting up the town and terrorising the locals. There's a more humane side to Ford, but it's drawn out slowly and well.
Yes it's about cowboys and Indians and bandits all fighting aliens together. Some shoot-em-up alien attacks and action sequences. And there's the redemption theme prevalent in so many westerns and, I suppose, SF, too.
Olivia Wilde ('Thirteen' in House - Season Four) plays the female lead, but it's not just a regular love interest part and she gets to 'do stuff' too (but I'm not saying what because, y'know, SPOILERS).
Cowboys and Aliens does exactly what it says on the tin and I enjoyed it.
If you're willing to suspend your disbelief about the alien monsters being here for our gold and torturing humans to assess their weak points prior to killing off the human race then this is a pretty darn good cowboy movie with a difference. Daniel Craig is sufficiently believable as the (we discover later) semi-reformed outlaw dropped in the middle of nowhere with his memory wiped and an alien tech wristlet that (he soon discovers) is a weapon. I'm not a great Craig fan, but i liked him in this. I do like Harrison Ford, however, and he slips very well into the role of the (sixtyish) grizzled cattle baron who holds the town in his stern grip, and who has a no-good, overindulged son who takes advantage of Dad's power by shooting up the town and terrorising the locals. There's a more humane side to Ford, but it's drawn out slowly and well.
Yes it's about cowboys and Indians and bandits all fighting aliens together. Some shoot-em-up alien attacks and action sequences. And there's the redemption theme prevalent in so many westerns and, I suppose, SF, too.
Olivia Wilde ('Thirteen' in House - Season Four) plays the female lead, but it's not just a regular love interest part and she gets to 'do stuff' too (but I'm not saying what because, y'know, SPOILERS).
