When it was first announced that Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford would be teaming up for a sci-fi/western bybrid film, I was in geek heaven. I mean James Bond and Indiana Jones in the same movie. Hell Yeah! My expectations were high for this movie, and I was not disappointed. The movie opens in Arizona circa 1873 with Daniel Craig as a man named Jake Lonergan, who wakes up in the middle of the desert with no boots, hat, or horse. And no clue as to who he is. After being stumbled upon by three nefarious men, Jake quickly dispatches the trio and heads to the nearest town, which is called Absolution. Once there he meets a mysterious woman named Ella (played by Olivia Wilde) who may have a clue to his loss of memory. Jake also runs afoul of a drunk young man named Percy (played by Paul Dano) who happens to be the son of Colonel Dolarhyde (played by Harrison Ford). Jake slaps Percy around and both men are arrested by the sheriff (Keith Carradine). The Colonel gets wind of this and rides into town to get his boy and also get his revenge on Jake, who evidently stole money from him a while back.
Once in town, some commotion occurs and lights fill up the skies. The lights turn out to be alien spaceships which attack the town and start snatching up the local townsfolk. Jake happens to have some type of alien weapon on his wrist and learns how to use it. This leads to a spectacular 15 minute sequence of cool and frenetic action. The town bands together to track down the ships that took their fellow townspeople. Lonergan and Dolarhyde put aside their differences to work together.
This movie worked on several levels and the sci fi meets western angle worked pretty good. It got kind of too much sci-fi mumbo jumbo toward the end but things turn back to the western side and everything ends nicely. The cast is top notch. Daniel Craig once again shows he is a strong actor and even a stronger action star as he has several key scenes where he gets to flex his muscle. Harrison Ford is good too as Dolarhyde and gets a few emotional scenes that let us know why he is such a hardened man. And Olivia Wilde is more than just eye candy to look at. She is very pivotal in this movie and does not disappoint in her scenes where she to explain a lot to everyone else.
So all in all Cowboys and Aliens is a cool movie. Perfect for summertime viewing. From the director of Iron Man, Jon Favreau.
B
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