Cowboys and Aliens | Teen Ink

Cowboys and Aliens

July 29, 2011
By Drewp PLATINUM, Seattle, Washington
Drewp PLATINUM, Seattle, Washington
27 articles 0 photos 4 comments

Jon Favreau’s “Cowboys and Aliens” is two kinds of films in one. A western film and an alien film. It fails as both.

It fails as a western because every aspect of it isn’t believable beyond a typical western reenactment. The leading actors give their usual performances, except in cowboy outfits and southern accents. Daniel Craig is a hybrid of his “James Bond” performance and Jason Bourne. Harrison Ford is his usual cheesy, old-age Harrison Ford. The screenplay by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzmen, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus, and Hawk Ostby gives the actors nothing but clichéd western movie dialogue to spout.

It fails as an alien picture because the aliens don’t provide much wonder or mystery for the audience (as they do in the best alien movies). Instead, they are there primarily to kill and be killed (as in the worst kind of alien movies, like “Battle LA” or “War of the Worlds”).

Craig plays Jake Lonergan, a good-looking cowboy who wakes up in the middle of the desert one day. He can’t remember his name or where he came from but he sure can remember how to beat up people.

One night when he’s been caught by the local law enforcement, trouble comes to town in the shape of extra terrestrial spacecraft filled with large, bug eyed aliens who have come to earth for gold. After completely messing up the place and taking people captive, a rescue posse is formed, led by a tough as nails Colonel named Woodrow (grumpy, growly Harrison who, of course is trying to find his son).

The others include: Ella Swenson (a wide eyed Olivia Wilde) a good alien in human form. A bartender played by Sam Rockwell and some other guys you don’t care about. Jake also decides to come along…why? Because he’s the only one that can actually kill an alien, thanks to a super awesome alien bracelet gun that he can control with his mind! And also he’s had previous encounters with the E.T’s before, or whatever.

Favreau deserves some credit. From this and his last two features “Iron Man” and “Iron Man 2” he’s shown that he can direct a slick action film. Some of the battle scenes look great, (in particular the one at the beginning when the aliens are first introduced) and the special effects are consistently good. The only thing this movie partially succeeds at is being an energetic summer, adventure fantasy.

Even so, the action, no matter how good it is, is pointless if the story isn’t good, and that’s the case with “Cowboys.” Favreau moves the plot along so quickly that there’s no time for much character development; therefore you don’t have any emotional resonance towards any of the characters if something happens to them. Who cares if Jake had a girlfriend in the past that was killed by the aliens? Who cares whether Woodrow finds his damn son? In fact when the film gets to the rescue mission (and it’s pretty quick), it follows the same old formula: Aliens attack; they run into a group of people. More aliens attack; they meet more people and what’s the payoff? They defeat the aliens and rescue captives that we have maybe only seen once or twice before? Whoops, I gave away the ending. Surprise.

Not surprising is that the film is based on a graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. The title alone is a giveaway. Maybe this premise looks good as a comic but on the screen, with nothing but comic-book good guys and bad guys, it proves to be another tiresome action flick that disappoints in both its genres.


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This article has 12 comments.


Drew said...
on Dec. 5 2011 at 5:25 pm
Well, to each his own then. You liked it I didn't like it, if you think I have bad taste than you have a right to think that. I'm not going to argue the point. My review stands

on Dec. 4 2011 at 10:45 pm
sophza PLATINUM, Sacramento, California
21 articles 14 photos 47 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." ~Ferris Bueller

When I saw the trailer for this movie in theaters, I laughed out loud. Seriously, cowboys and aliens??? why in the world??

on Dec. 4 2011 at 8:55 pm
JeremyHerbert PLATINUM, Fairview Park, Ohio
21 articles 0 photos 54 comments
Personally I thought the Western part of it was rather successful.  It homaged the best Spaghetti Westerns and John Wayne films at the same time.  The dialogue might've been a tad cliched, but I'd tend to think it's difficult to write a Western that's totally original, especially one that involves aliens.

KavikFenrir said...
on Oct. 19 2011 at 3:39 pm
I have to complement you on your good work, though. I'm one of those people who get only positive comments when doing fictional stories, but get mixed reviews on the essays. Keep up the good work!

KavikFenrir said...
on Oct. 18 2011 at 9:50 pm
I'd also like to add that you got the alien attack scene wrong. The outlaws blow up the ships, Indians and outlaws fight the charging aliens who seem to enjoy human flesh, and the captives are the main point of the whole movie. No captives equals no storyline which equals no point in making the movie.

KavikFenrir said...
on Oct. 18 2011 at 9:44 pm
I think what just really caught me about this movie is the science fiction western combo, and if a movie contains massive fight scenes then I like it. This one just nailed me, though, because of awesome acting and an ok plot. Think of it this way, at least it's not about a bunch of aliens that fight cowboys in an all-out war, the plot's more sophisticated than that.

KavikFenrir said...
on Oct. 18 2011 at 9:38 pm
I do watch a lot of movies, but I do think you have bad taste. Harrison Ford is famous for a reason, and I don't think it's because he's 'cheesy, old-age Harrison Ford'. I've actually watched the James Bond movies starring Daniel Craig, as well as Harrison Ford as Han Solo in Star Wars. I have to say that they're always really good.

Drewp PLATINUM said...
on Oct. 16 2011 at 1:29 pm
Drewp PLATINUM, Seattle, Washington
27 articles 0 photos 4 comments
and if you think it's one of the best movies you've ever seen then you obviously haven't seen that many movies.

Drewp PLATINUM said...
on Oct. 16 2011 at 1:27 pm
Drewp PLATINUM, Seattle, Washington
27 articles 0 photos 4 comments
I did watch the movie and I didn't like it. You saw it and you did like it.

KavikFenrir said...
on Oct. 16 2011 at 1:16 pm
I think that you should watch the movie before commenting on it. I've watched Cowboys and Aliens and I pretty much think that it's the best movie I've ever seen. Added to that is some of the best acting I've ever seen by Ford and Craig.

Drewp PLATINUM said...
on Oct. 14 2011 at 6:52 pm
Drewp PLATINUM, Seattle, Washington
27 articles 0 photos 4 comments
Yes, I wrote this long review and I didn't even see the movie

KavikFenrir said...
on Oct. 14 2011 at 6:35 pm
Sorry, but I think that this totally sucks! I have doubts that you even watched the movie. It seems as if you got a plot summary off Wikipedia or something.