Though I hope there was a point in Hollywood’s history where anyone pitching a movie where aliens invaded the Wild West would have been laughed out of every producer’s office, with the recent comic book-movie revolution opening the way for virtually any kind of storyline, now seemed like the perfect time to bring such an idea to life. The core concept for Cowboys & Aliens may have sounded ridiculous, but when some of the names attached to the project were revealed, expectations skyrocketed. Not only would talented director Jon Favreau be taking the lead, but two actors associated with some of the most legendary characters in movie history would be seen together for the first time. You can deny it all you want, but I guarantee that when it was first announced that Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford would be teaming up, everyone had the mental image of James Bond and Indiana Jones/Han Solo kicking the snot out of rejects from the Star Wars universe…how could that not be awesome? Despite the film’s shaky potential, Universal Pictures deserves credit for not trying to oversell the simple premise of Cowboys & Aliens, and for all I knew, with iconic actors and strong special effects, this Western/Sci-Fi hybrid could end up surprising even the most logical of naysayers.
It is shameful to think that even with a talented director, a strong cast, and a virtually blank-slate to reinvent established genres with a creative story, Cowboys & Aliens still squandered almost all of its potential. A shortcoming like zero-character development usually doesn’t matter all that much when the actors behind the characters are so well-received, but it can spell disaster for a newcomer like Olivia Wilde. Action heroes Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig are novel to watch together, but that’s where the appeal of Cowboys & Aliens ends, as an unnecessarily complicated story and uneven narrative pacing doom the quality of this potential blockbuster. Who could have thought that cowboys chasing after and battling alien star-fighters could actually come across as mediocre and drawn-out? Plain and simple, Cowboys & Aliens may not be a truly terrible film, but it is still one hell of a letdown.
For more information, please read the full review.
Overall Recommendation: Low
