Then he sees the youth Percy Dolarhyde (Paul Dano), who is the son of the powerful farmer Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), bullying with the bar owner Doc (Sam Rockwell) and the other locals. He rides a horse of one outlaw and heads to a former mining town, where the local preacher treats him. He is attacked by thieves but defeats them. In the Old West, an amnesic stranger awakes in the middle of the desert wounded in the belly with a bracelet in one of his wrists. It would have been great if I actually care about anybody in the story.
There is a twist that tries to make the story interesting. The posse is filled with characters that nobody cares about. Olivia Wilde tries to add some likability to the cast.
Instead there is some unnecessary mano a mano between Ford and Craig. Director Jon Favreau should have made this a straight up action adventure. I don't see any reason to tease the aliens for thirty minutes.
Olivia wilde cowboys and aliens movie#
If the movie is anything, it's to pit cowboys against the aliens. The cowboys part of the movie isn't very compelling. The fact is the aliens come into the movie a little too late. Then Sheriff John Taggart (Keith Carradine) notices Jake's face on a wanted poster. The town is terrorized by the Colonel's son Percy Dolarhyde (Paul Dano). Preacher Meacham (Clancy Brown) finds the stranger in his place and treats his wound. The population isn't too friendly cowered by the iron-fisted cattle rancher Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford). He rides into town with stolen gear and horse. Passing cowboys try to take him into the town of Absolution. Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) with no memory is stranded in the middle of the desert with a mysterious shackle on his wrist. Sure, it does go on a little too long, and the ending descends into effects-filled nonsense, but overall this is winning and watchable. The performances are therefore better than hoped for, and the direction is fine, with the early, brutal fight scenes really proving successful. What I liked most about this film is that it's straight-up serious, rather than being loaded with annoying and goofy humour. He's soon involved in a plot involving arch criminal Harrison Ford, but any local enmity is put on hold when the aliens show up in an impressively destructive set-piece. Things kick off well with Steve McQueen-alike Daniel Craig waking up in the desert, with an alien wristwatch and a cracking headache/case of amnesia. This film is refreshingly old-fashioned in feel and for two-thirds of the running time focuses on being a western rather than a sci-fi flick, which is all well and good. I wasn't expecting to like it much, feeling that modern-day science fiction films tend to be all about the big CGI effects without much warmth or character to go with them, but I didn't have worried. 4/10 Bethany CoxĬOWBOYS & ALIENS is one of those "what it says on the tin" type movies, obvious in content from the title. In conclusion, wanted to like it but there were too flaws that prevented me from properly engaging with it. Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford are decent enough but deserved much more than they got, while the female lead was annoying and forgettable. Jon Favreau's direction is mixed, great in the action scenes, pedestrian at other points, while the characters are underdeveloped and little more than clichéd. The writing is mostly awful, particularly in the slower moments where those moments are peppered with schmaltz, and the story is dull with little satisfactorily explained. The let downs however are in the writing and in the story.
Olivia wilde cowboys and aliens plus#
Plus the title is great and one of the things that drew me in in the first place. The soundtrack is fitting and memorable, and while the first action scene was a tad overlong, the action is beautifully choreographed and definitely one of the more interesting parts of the movie. It is a well made movie, with cinematography and editing to be admired and settings and costumes that are not only great but show some imagination. However, when it came to seeing it I found it a let down. Ever since I first heard of Cowboys & Aliens it was actually one of my most-wanted-to-see movies of the year.