Cowboys & Aliens [M]

1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past or even his own name stumbles into the hard town of Absolution. The only hint he has to what happened to him is a nasty wound and a mysterious shackle around his wrist. First, he discovers that Absolution does not take kindly to strangers without the word of the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde. Second, a race of beings not of this world has been attacking towns and obliterating human life all over the west in a search for gold. 

From the beginning, the title Cowboys and Aliens is one that will either intrigue or repel you. Either the combination of the two genres Western and Sci-Fi will not mesh or they make great entertainment together. With this film, it’s the latter. The two genres were blended together very nicely and without getting too out of place or weird, which was the case in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Like Back to the Future Part III or Star Wars, Cowboys and Aliens was a rollicking film that had me captivated from start to finish. 

1872. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past or even his own name stumbles into the hard town of Absolution. The only hint he has as to what happened to him is a nasty wound and a mysterious shackle around his wrist. First, he discovers that the town of Absolution does not take kindly to strangers without the word of the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde. It’s a town that lives in fear. Second, a race of beings not of this world has been attacking towns and obliterating human life all over the west in a search for gold. 

This is a very interesting film: by no means an overly amazing achievement in cinematic history, but definitely a film that both entertains and opens the eye. Essentially the story is just this lone cowboy wanting to regain his memories and, in the process, he ends up leading a revolt against the aliens that are terrorising the desert towns. 

As I mentioned before, the blend of the two contrasting genres really worked nicely. I think the main reason for this is the fact that not an overly excess amount of special effects and general sci-fi-ness was used. You had the spacecrafts and the aliens themselves, sure, but the science fiction part of the story did not outweigh or outshine the gritty and hard Western part of the story. I think that this was a good thing because sci-fi films in general are more mind-blowing in terms of special effects and everything whereas actions and Westerns in particular are real rollicking movies that have the audience on the edge of their seats, biting their nails, and yeehaw-ing along with the characters. You experience a very different feeling watching a Western than you do watching a sci-fi and they kept that raw, rollicking feeling in this movie perfectly. 

With great performances from Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Paul Dano, Adam Beach, and Sam Rockwell, Cowboys and Aliens was a highly fascinating movie that was packed with shootouts, gunplay, romance, mystery, action, and…. aliens. I didn’t think it was absolutely brilliant, but I am glad that I have seen it and I would recommend it because it’s a very clever look at what happens when you meld two completely opposite genres together.