Home on the StRange - Cowboys and Aliens

3 1/2 out of 5 Popcorn Kernels

 SEE TRAILER HERE

Peanut Butter and Jelly goes together - But Peanut Butter and Mustard...not so much. And so it goes with this film; giving us the best of two movies, rolled into one. Eat Up!

Cowboys and Aliens was inspired by a graphic novel of the same name, and in that I can see where such a storyline may have been hard to translate to film. Not that it does a bad job, but graphic novels are exciting because of the art and the story - the reader creates the emotion. In film, it is hard to compete with what the mind is thinking is happening on paper. All in all, Cowboys and Aliens is rather a treat, because of its concept, and the actors involved. The Western part of this movie dominates the Sci-fi part, and that is why this film may not excite everyone. Transformers it is not. A sort of Twilight-Zone-esc feel is what you get with this film (without the ending twist). In essence, this becomes what many Westerns become...a film about a quest; something bad comes to town, and the town has to fight back, usually with a gunslinger hero to lead them.

This hero carries more than a gun...

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?

The movie begins with our anti-hero (in a movie that seems filled with them) Jake Lonergan Zeke to his friends (Daniel Craig), in the dessert, without a memory of how he got there, with a clunky bracelet that would have Tim Gunn screaming for the Fashion Police. He wanders into a town called Absolution, and the townspeople who don't give him the grandest welcome...especially by one of the towns founding shareholders and all-around bad guy, Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford). Jake has gumption, and handles a few of the riff-raff in town quite well, including Dolarhyde's son Percy (Paul Dano).

Soon we find out that Jake is a wanted man, a leading member of a hold-up gang, who we soon discover has a vendetta against Jake for dissapearing on them after a gold heist of a stagecoach. In town we also meet Ella (Olivia Wilde), the local hot-gal that is drawn to Jake, and seems very intrigued by his situation to the point of unwanted tailgater. So all doesn't bode well for our anti-hero, because the Deputy Charlie Lyle (Brendan Wayne) wants the reward, Dolarhyde wants his hide, Ella wants the bracelet, and Doc (a wonderful acting job by Sam Rockwell), wants everyone to stop picking on him.

But as all of the cards seem to be folding for Jake, and the town is fixin' to hang him, in rides another visitor - space ships from the sky, that quickly swoop in to lasso a few of the townsfolk, until Jake aims his fancy wrist-piece at them, and it blasts a wave of energy enough to knock one of the ships down. Inside...well, the title says it all...aliens of course.

So now Jake is called to be apart of the town's posse in finding the abducted townspeople, and hopefully a part of his missing past. This adventure takes us into more of the Western part of this movie, as we journey into the dessert, and as Jake's memories slowly come back to him - and eventually the destiny of him, the aliens, and the townspeople.

Cowboys and Aliens is neither scary, or complex in its delivery. The aliens themselves do provide some thrills, but as with many alien movies, once they are done terrorizing us with their looks and uncivilized manner (which is odd for me that an advanced race can not only be found so easily, but they have even go through the trouble of capturing us in the open, for no better reason it seems than curiosity - you can learn much about us I would think just by them tuning into reality-TV),they have very little else to do in the movie. Where are the alien creatures that are written with the same complexity of emotions and purpose as the humans?

What I missed mostly about Cowboys and Aliens was the science fiction aspect of the movie. I understand that the western civilization can only be armed with six-shooters and arrows, but when pitted against advanced weaponry, how exciting is it bound to get? After a space ship travels past asteroids, meteors, solar flares, the coldness of space, debris, gravitational pulls...you mean to tell me that it takes 2 1/2 hours for them to fight with us?

Fashion Police Bracelet

I do have to say that the actors and the acting in this movie is what saves Cowboys and Aliens, for they are taking this with the seriousness that must be displayed so that this doesn't turn into a spoof about either genre. Nat Colorado (Adam Beach), plays an Indian in this movie, who helps Jake to get his memory back, and his portrayal in this movie of his character, almost torn between his duty and his heritage, is very pulling. Harrison Ford is strong in this role, and his character has a hard shell but a soft center that only he could play. Daniel Craig, with the help of his 007 role, really has turned into the action hero with steel reserve that kept me watching, and he plays well with Olivia Wilde.

Cowboys and Aliens is a good movie, with plenty of action, but non of it very surprising. We can figure out what is going to happen in the end, just as we do with most Westerns...and if you are not a fan of both (or at least interested in films like True Grit, 310 to Yuma), then I would sit at home and flip through the movie listing again, and cook popcorn at home.