Arizona, 1873. A visibly battered man, stripped of his clothes, wakes up in the middle of the scorching desert. Disoriented and with no memory, he tries to work out how he got there. The extraterrestrial-tech bracelet clamped around his wrist doesn’t help. Three cowboys on horseback ride up. These are hard times, and they’re not friendly. In the scuffle all three die, and our hero now has a horse and some clothes, though he still doesn’t know who he is. He arrives in a town and things don’t get better: after another brawl in the saloon, a mysterious woman (Olivia Wilde) who seems to recognise him doesn’t help him either. The sheriff calls him Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) and locks him up. The rich man of the area (Harrison Ford) turns up to settle old business with our hero. With a name and a history, but memories that shed no light, in the middle of all this confusion alien ships blaze overhead and abduct the citizens of Absolution (the town). That’s when Jake discovers a possible use for the bracelet, blasting one of the ships out of the sky. He can’t stop the mass abduction, but he helps put together an expedition to find the abductees, and his memories.
What have we got?
- Well-known actors (besides those already mentioned: Sam Rockwell, impressive in Moon; Keith Carradine, whom you’ll know from the magnificent Dexter; or Noah Ringer from the deadly dull The Last Airbender).
- A well-known director, Jon Favreau (director of Iron Man and Iron Man 2, the one who gets married in Very Bad Things), who refused to make it in 3D because it didn’t fit a western. Good for him!
- Steven Spielberg as producer and Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman as writers (Fringe, The Island).
- A budget of around 120 million euros.
- A title that promises: “Cowboys & Aliens”.
How does it turn out?
Above all, a missed opportunity. Big-name actors with very mediocre characters, a flimsy story that fails to grab you, and a few weak spots (the mysterious woman doesn’t stand up to scrutiny!). Wildly disproportionate battles and underdeveloped situations. The effects look poor, underworked and not very believable. The aliens look like a mash-up of Alien and Predator, but the Native Americans are likeable.
Watch it if you’ve nothing better to do, if you’re hungover, or if you use the television for company. If you expect nothing from it, you might enjoy it. As a blockbuster it’s pitiful, but seen as a low-budget alternative film it gains a lot, like Skyline, which actually is one. Here that’s a stretch, with Daniel Craig as the lead and Harrison Ford giving it a go. Which is why it’s also interesting to watch as a comedy.
Entertaining and disappointing.