Cowboys and Aliens
You know that one film that comes out every year that completely takes you by surprise, whether it be when you see the trailer for a film, and you don't expect what you see, and then you suddenly see yourself grasping at straws just to see it, and then when you see it your totally blown off your feet.
Well that isn't this movie...
No, this is that other movie, the type of movie that when it is first brought to your attention, you simply know that it is going to be awesome, and then you twiddle your thumbs watch everything that comes out about it and that same expectation level sits right there.
That was where I sat with Cowboys and Aliens. At least I thought for a long time until a few months ago, and my hype died down, not just mine, but all the hype surrounding the film. At some point, this was believed to be the film to save summer from sequels and comic adaptation (although, it's a comic book adaptation itself, but it's not popular enough so it get away with it). And then boom, slowly no one gave a crap about it and it was then almost beaten by Smurfs (those blue *******s).
However, I remand optimistic that this would be that one fun film that spoke sorely to me, and me only (along with a few million people, but so what).
Thankfully, it does. Cowboys and Aliens is one of the few films I can say can hold it's head high and say it's a fun movie and stand proud of it. It isn't a complete leave you brain at the door film, but you can certainly zone out for the certain amount of time the film runs for and not feel like it is pandering towards you.
It's actually very hard to see what the critics are really complaining about when it comes to the film (Currently at 45% on Rotten Tomatoes), most the complaints are that the film takes itself too seriously, yet other complaints say the films too silly, what are people expecting
. I'll set the score straight. For the most part, Cowboys and Aliens is straight up Western for the first 15 min, which then shortly is interrupted by science fiction, the two genre's then fight up to see which is best, at which we are constantly given a very strong western, with typical western characters, thrown into a very typical science fiction film.You end up with an interesting view on both genres, both played very straight. It creates a very unique blockbuster, combining all the cliches of both genres into one to see how they work against each other. And for the most part, not all the time but for the most part, they work well.
Daniel Craig plays amnesiac cowboy called Jake Lonergan, who wakes up in the middle of the desert unable to remember anything, he soon heads to a small town where we find out he's a wanted criminal, who has a heft bounty on his head. We soon find out he's pissed of the local Harrison Ford for stealing his gold, prior to amnesia and is about to be sent off to jail when, out of all the unlikeliest of things to happen, aliens attack.
Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford are the two names carrying this film (according to IGN, James Bond and Indiana Jones have never been in the same film before, and according to me, all the editors of IGN where born yesterday), and the two of the have terrific chemistry between one another. Among them is Sam Rockwell as the ***** bartender/doctor who is thrown into the mess and must man up to save his wife. They even have the kid from Last Airbender proving he can act (a little). And Olivia Wilde walking around a ton, acting all mysterious and cryptic.
However, what makes all the secondary cast work, is the excellent writing for each of them, you do get a feel that this is a small Western town, all the character know each other, and all have there personal dilemmas floating around, some out in the open, some very subtle. And quite a bit of the time, they have some tragic endings, some happy. But the whole reason this entire film works are these characters, through the whole film, this isn't an alien invasion movie, where they fight the aliens, it's simply a rescue mission. A lot of the time, they are running away from the attacking forces, not until the climax they start to fight back. There is just something relaxing to seeing a film where the characters just feel so fluent.
Now onto the other half of what the title suggest, the aliens. The aliens themselves are nothing ground breaking, but they are very very intimidating, they are scary, especially when the are filmed within limited light. They have a very freaky gimmick of them opening there chest and having arms reach out that is genuinely unsettling
. My only slight problem was that I was under the influence that the creatures where going to be more practical effects, instead of total cgi. Now, no complaint with the special effects as the genuinely look impressive, but everything is always more intimidating up close and personal, when they are actually there.
The film also isn't without it's crazy amount of 12a violence, they have aliens heads exploding, blown to pieces, limbs flying everywhere, bodies detached from legs. This is a film that literally gets away with murder.
There is only one fatal flaw to this film, that really stops it's hoped of being perfect. Since a film like Cowboys and Aliens has never been done before, the creators genuinely see the fact that they don't really have to change much in means of real game changing. They feel like they are getting a free ride for adding Cowboys and Aliens, and while it is fun seeing a typical western film and typical sci-fi film get thrown into a blender. There are a few moments where you kind of wish they avoided playing that cliche, or that character, and instead delivered a bit more of a surprise.
Cowboys and Aliens gets the joke, it understands subtlety of a joke. So instead of smacking you in the face of meta jokes and humour, it plays itself as the straight man. "Oh yeah, this is all a bit silly, but that doesn't mean I can't be good" unlike films like Machete and Drive Angry, where it has to tell you that it's stupid but it's cool to laugh, we know. Cowboys and Aliens risks itself at being humiliated for have a silly premises to a serious film, however, it's the other films that humiliate themselves for approval, while Cowboys and Aliens simply looks down and tells the world how little a crap it thinks of our opinion, and that's why it works.
9.5/10
All countries
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). But the film manages to keep the pacing tight and even, partly because of the different situations the guy goes through (struggling to chip the rock away, struggling to ration the water, struggling to eat, etc), partly because of the surreal flashbacks, and most certainly because of Danny Boyle’s bizarre style. It’s a fine example of how a film can succeed at filming an ordinary subject in an extraordinary manner.
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