Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

A spaceship arrives in Arizona, 1873, to take over the Earth, starting with the Wild West region. A posse of cowboys and natives are all that stand in their way.

Director:

Jon Favreau

Writers:

Roberto Orci (screenplay), Alex Kurtzman (screenplay),

Stars:

Daniel Craig, Abigail Spencer, Olivia Wilde

9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Daniel Craig	...	Jake Lonergan
Abigail Spencer	...	Alice
Buck Taylor	...	Wes Claiborne
Matthew Taylor	...	Luke Claiborne (as Matt Taylor)
Cooper Taylor	...	Mose Claiborne
Clancy Brown	...	Meacham
Paul Dano	...	Percy Dolarhyde
Chris Browning	...	Jed Parker
Adam Beach	...	Nat Colorado
Sam Rockwell	...	Doc
Ana de la Reguera	...	Maria
Noah Ringer	...	Emmett Taggart
Brian Duffy	...	Deputy
Olivia Wilde	...	Ella Swenson
Keith Carradine	...	Sheriff John Taggart

Storyline

The Old West.. where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world. 1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). It's a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he's been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a ...

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Plot Keywords:

sheriff | posse | arizona | cowboy | desert | 

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Taglines:

First contact. Last stand.

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller | Western

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of western and sci-fi action and violence, some partial nudity and a brief crude reference

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [fr]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Apache languages

Release Date:

29 July 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cowboyok és űrlények

Filming Locations:

Abiquiu, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$163,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$36,431,290 (USA) (29 July 2011)

Gross:

$100,215,116 (USA) (28 October 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, Reliance Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min 135 min (extended)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Steven Spielberg screened The Searchers and Close Encounters of the Third Kind for Roberto Orci and Jon Favreau so that they could get the atmosphere of the film.

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Goofs

The Apache chief needs a translator to communicate with the cowboys, except in the scene where Ella tells them all who she is. In this scene, there are a few times when the Apaches appear to understand English.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Wes Claiborne: [to Jake] We're riding towards Absolution. You know how far west we are?
[Jake doesn't answer]
Mose Claiborne: Maybe he's a dummy.
Wes Claiborne: Is there a reason you're not answering my question?
Mose Claiborne: Look here, Pa. He's got iron on his wrist. He's been shot. Could be done broke out of hoosegow. Might be worth bounty.
Wes Claiborne: Might could be.

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Connections

Featured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #21.107 (2013)

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Soundtracks

"Apache War Dance"
Written and Performed by The Mescalero Apache Tribe

User Reviews

What happens when you overvalue a movie concept and undervalue the story

The answer to the obvious question hovering around Jon Favreau's latest action blockbuster is yes, "Cowboys & Aliens" is as ridiculous as the title sounds. Yet blame doesn't quite belong on Favreau's shoulders or that of star Daniel Craig or the rest of the cast; rather, the failure of this alien-infested Western results from the domino effect of the countless studios and producers who put their faith (and money) in a concept rather than a story.

To be fair, I know nothing of the Platinum Studios comic by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, but it couldn't have been all that good if all the hottest screenwriters in Hollywood couldn't whip together a plot worth a damn. The duos behind "Iron Man" and "Star Trek" along with "Lost" writer Damon Lindelof all took cracks at the screenplay and an earlier treatment from another pair of "it" writers who wrote next month's "Conan the Barbarian" was discarded. Frankly, criticism of "Cowboys & Aliens" all stems from a story with lackluster characters equipped with cliché motivations. Despite some cool aliens, the action doesn't offer anything unique enough to counter that we've no reason to care.

Craig stars as Jake Lonergan, a stoic outlaw in Arizona sometime in the late 19th Century who wakes up with no memory and some metal device on his wrist. When he arrives in the town of Absolution, the sheriff discovers he's wanted and attempts to ship him off for a reward. That's when the aliens attack, bombing the town and roping up locals before flying off into the night. Lonergan's bracelet activates as a weapon and suddenly he's the only one capable of defeating these things. He joins a rescue party led by a grumpy Civil War vet named Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) and they all set off to find out what happened to their loved ones.

The script introduces characters willy-nilly and provides little satisfactory explanation for anything that happens. The story paints Lonergan as a quiet badass, but one who has flashes of some woman he loved. Because his past slowly unravels with nothing revelatory to show for it as the film wears on, it's tough to care much or even see him as capable of romantic feelings. Regardless, a woman named Ella (Olivia Wilde) keeps approaching him with questions he doesn't have the answers to and she evolves into a love interest for nothing but the sake of it. Sam Rockwell has little to no bearing on the film other than serving an example of an otherwise peaceful man who will do whatever it takes to get his wife back. He's a waste in the role. As for Ford, he just gets on screen and acts grumpy and impatient. We've seen everyone on board do so much better. Did these folks not read the script? Probably not considering the number of drafts alone.

Worst of all, the script thinks we will care; after all, this is "Cowboys & Frickin' Aliens!" In the final sequence, suddenly all these supporting characters have little moments together out of seemingly thin air. What are supposed to be moments in the story tying up relationship subplots between characters end up as reminders that these relationships and subplots even existed in the first place. Consequently, the film's pivotal moments result not in hearts beating, but eyes rolling.

In fairness, Favreau shows his adeptness from an action perspective once again in this film. The movie looks good if nothing else with strong visual effects and a strong concept team behind the aliens and related technology. The genre experiment generally works from a tonal perspective, an obstacle that certainly stood in Favreau's path. The film feels like a Western and one in which aliens could feasibly exist, so no problems due to identity crisis.

Yet the film never provides a single reason to justify why it had to be a story about cowboys and aliens. In that sense, the movie results in nothing more than several studios and producers thinking we'd simply be interested in a fusion of a shoot-em-up Western with an alien invasion. All involved failed to ask the one critical question when making a film based on a concept: "is there a good story here?" No, there's not. Despite every ounce of you wanting to find a reason to care about what happens, none arrives. As such, "Cowboys & Aliens" offers watchable but lifeless entertainment.

~Steven C

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