Let’s look at the possibilities from a realistic point of view. 1) Daniel Craig is a total bad ass and could totally whip any aliens ass. 2) Indiana Jones was amazing when we were able to understand him (if you see Cowboys & Aliens you will understand the issue). 3) Cowboys verses Aliens is an amazing concept that has not really been done before. 4) Spielberg rarely has a bad film (this does not include the 4th Indy, which I’ll never speak of again). 5) The aliens’ aircrafts looked amazing and gave hope to some crazy looking villains. Now that that’s out of the way let’s get back to the review….
Cowboys & Aliens takes the concept of a western to heart as it moves as a leisurely pace that could only be compared to a John Wayne film that takes almost 3 hours to get through. Although there is more than enough time to deliver a story, there are so many missing pieces that you’re lucky if you can walk out of the theater with the slightest clue as to what just happened. Not only is the story missing a few crucial parts and lacking major character development, but by the end you’ll just wish that Doc Brown would suddenly fly in and urge Marty to travel back to the future just as the end credits roll. As cheesy as that sounds, it is probably the only thing that could have possibly redeemed the film from its current state.
Thankfully director Jon Favreau found a balance between story and action that kept the audience in their seats, it’s just too bad the combination was not better delivered. With top-notch actors, a hot actress with a tight toosh (who oddly enough we find out is not quite what we thought she was), and half-assed aliens who pack no punch (who strangely resembled the alien in Spielberg’s Super 8) it’s hard to believe more time had not been spent on fully developing this project. Having come from a graphic novel it should have been a piece of cake since the story was practically already fully laid out and storyboarded for them, but sadly the adaptation strays far enough away from the original concept that if you miss a few crucial lines explaining who/what the aliens are you might as well forget the story completely.
The only thing that makes up for the complete confusion of the story and whether or not this film was official left with an open ending to set up for a sequel, is the recent realization that a 90s TeenNICK show actually predicted the coming of Cowboys & Aliens. If you ever watched 'Clarissa Explains It All' you would have had your first introduction to something almost 20 years in the making. Now I think the only question left is… Would Cowboys & Aliens have made a better 90s film than the film we have today?
That being said Cowboys & Aliens is a decent film that will at least kill 2 hours if you have nothing better to do.
**this review was originally written for PacManandTheHotOne.com. check out the site for more reviews and follow the link to the original posting (http://pacmanandthehotone.blogspot.com/2011/...owboys-aliens-2011.html)
