cricketbat Cowboys & Aliens is fun. It could have been better, but it also could have been much, much worse. I like the original premise, the visual effects are impressive (I loved the alien attacks) and the acting isn't bad, either. However, this film is flat and predictable. I know they deliberately tried to avoid campy-ness, but I wonder if this movie would have been better with a little dose of humor.

gpeltz Spoiler Alert, Plot details discussed. OK Coboys and Alines, very funny. like in Cowboys and Indians. I was not exactly blown away by the title. What blew me away was the first glorious shot. The cinamatography was just excellent; Wide screen and glorious, yet capturing the drama of the graphic novel visual power, ,Matthew Libatique captured the sweep and glory of New Mexicos grandest landscapes. Likewise appropriate was the fine score, reminiscent of Elmer bernstiens western sagas. Here the composer is Harry Greyson-Williams. Director Jon Favreau pulled all the elements together and created a grand but overlooked gem. As strange as the premise is, it is remarkably successful in blending the genera''s of Westerns and Science Fiction. The narrative is strange, but the star power is stellar, We watch two pros at the top of their game. Daniel Craig is the lead, a gunslinger named Jake Lonergan, awakening in the deep desert, with an iron wrist cuff. He also has amnesia and no recollection of who he is. To make matters worse, he is about to be robbed and killed by three armed bandits. The movie quickly establishes that Craig's character is not to me messed with. The Town of Absolution was built out of the vast landscape, A small town with the Saloon, jailhouse and Main-street. The good Sheriff John Taggeart, played by Kieth Carradine, The doc, who runs the bar with his hot blooded wife,is played by Sam Rockwell. Abagail Spencer and Olivia Wilde fill the female leads. The Villan here is the wealthy land Barron, Woodrow Dolarhyde. played with rugged vigor by Harrison Ford. Throw in about forty outlaw armies and the Apache nation and you have a whole solid fighting force to defeat ? what ? The western setting and mind set finds the flying machines that resemble robot dragonfles, as well as the malevolent creatures as demons. they have no other context to comprehend the invaders, who are here, looking for gold and plunder. The creatures are convincingly portrayed as ugly things with grotesque limbs that erupt from their hideous bellys. Here I had to take issue, the creators of the technology could no way be represented by this brutish pack of hunters. Where is their science. They have advanced technology but act like barbarians. There is no way a pack of cowboys and Indians could defeat them. unless. they had an inside lead, This is where the character Ella, the mysterious, played by Olivia Wilde. She is also a stranger to our planet, and knows how to defeat the evil invaders. The film builds wonderfully to the splendid climax that gives you maximum bang for your buck. thanks to the effects folks at Industrial Light and Magic. So what did I not like, Only one thing, the weak title. Hey guys, re release it but call it, "The Sorrowful Saga of Gunslinger Jake". or "Gunslinger Jake and the Demons". or "Western Spaces". anything but Cowboys and Aliens. This gets eight and a half "bravo for pulling it off" Stars out of Ten

Gordon-11 This film tells the story of a man who wakes up in the middle of the desert with a strange device on his wrist, and no memory of what happened whatsoever. He soon discovers that he is a wanted criminal in a cowboy town that is savaged by aliens.The title says it all, and cowboys and aliens are exactly what you get. The story is fun and light, as the hybrid between cowboy and alien is fresh and interesting. There is much contrast between the lack of technology in the human world and the hi tech alien ships. It is an enjoyable brain off blockbuster film, with a bit of everything to please everyone.

Easygoer10 I liked this little film. Yes, it is flawed, however the largest flaw I find was the ignorance of the producers (namely S. Spielberg & R. Howard). Hadn't anyone seen the huge cult smash Firefly? It was on for a season in 2002 and 2003? Also the followup big screen film "Serenity", made in 2005. I was furious with the "making of" featurette on disc for "Cowboys and Aliens", which was made almost a decade after Joss Whedon's brilliant series I mentioned. You have to be a complete moron to not know the setting is 500 years in the future, everyone speaks a combination of English and Mandarin (Chinese). All the main characters live on a spaceship, and are basically small time criminals; however, they have morals, character, are funny, are sad, the entire lot. It is an incredibly brilliant show, and has some very good actors. For example, Adam Baldwin ("Animal Mother" from Stanley Kubrick's Vietnam flick "Full Metal Jacket"; Morena Baccarin, a gorgeous Brazilian actress who has done much TV sci-fi; the late Ron Glass, who was a star on "Barney Miller" for all 7 seasons, Alan Tudyk, a very versatile actor, etc. "Serenity" stars Chiwetel Eijofor plus the rest of the cast. Best of all are Summer Glau, a highly trained ballet dancer who is also an actress. Her character is "River Tam". Another key role is Captain Malcolm Reynolds, played wonderfully by Nathan Fillion ("Saving Private Ryan"). All of them are cast perfectly. These actors truly live their roles. The series and film is pretty much centered around these 9 characters on a spaceship. It is like a combination of post Civil War America, but set 500 years into our future. Whoever wrote "Cowboys and Acknowledge this. Not to do so is an affront to to Joss Whedon. It is shameful. Joss Whedon got a 5 minute standing ovation at the 2005 Comic con. He invented the entire world of this beloved show and film. They have literally millions of fans who wrote in to Fox from all over the world. When it was canceled by Fox, so many of these fans petitioned them. USA finally aired a few more episodes. Fans took out a full page ad in the Hollywood Reporter thanking every advertising sponsor, networks, studios, etc. Finally, 2 or 3 years later, Universal gave Joss Whedon the green light for a feature film. Whedon is one of the most underrated director in Hollywood today. Serenity only cost $30 million to make, which they had to beg and borrow to get. I think 90% of the primary characters stunts were done by the actors themselves. In particular Summer Glau (who plays Summer Tam). She is a trained ballerina, and Firefly was her very first acting job. In spite of this, she continued practice as a ballerina daily in addition to her own acting work ethic on Firefly. Joss Whedon knew she could do near impossible bending and splits, so he sent her to fight camp training for over 3 months daily prior to even beginning the film. The stunt crew was blown away with her ability to bend into almost impossible positions. This, coupled with a very sharp memory, allowed her to do She could do 15 to 20 or 25 straight moves, kicks and twists in a row without stopping, which is unheard of for someone that is not an action star. One last thing about Cowboys and Aliens. They had a whopping $163 million dollar budget, and the worldwide sales were only $173 million: $10 million over this bloated budget. Best of all, please note Firefly is the only canceled TV series to date which went on to be made into a successful big screen film: Serenity. Even though Fox only aired 11 of the 14 episode season; even though Fox aired them in the wrong order; even though the budget was tiny by 2005 standards: What Joss Whedon did is only more impressive.