Sci-Fi Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

Kevin

Code Monkey
Staff member
Title: Cowboys & Aliens

Tagline: First Contact. Last Stand.

Genre: Action, Science Fiction, Thriller, Western

Director: Jon Favreau

Cast: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Adam Beach, Paul Dano, Noah Ringer, Keith Carradine, Clancy Brown, Walton Goggins, Abigail Spencer, Ana de la Reguera, Raoul Max Trujillo, David O'Hara, Buck Taylor, Matthew Taylor, Cooper Taylor, Chris Browning, Brian Duffy, Brendan Wayne, Gavin Grazer, Toby Huss, Wyatt Russell, Jimmy Jatho, Kenny Call, Julio Cedillo, Garret Noël, Troy Gilbert, Chad Randall, Scout Hendrickson, David Midthunder, Mo Brings Plenty, Phillip Pike, Calum Blaylock, Paul Ortega, Nathaniel Chee, Robyn Simmons, Simon Choneska, David Chee, Vonda Tso, Lariat Geronimo, Freddie Apache, Oliver Enjady, Hoyle Osborne, Rex Rideout

Release: 2011-07-29

Runtime: 119

Plot: A stranger stumbles into the desert town of Absolution with no memory of his past and a futuristic shackle around his wrist. With the help of mysterious beauty Ella and the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde, he finds himself leading an unlikely posse of cowboys, outlaws, and Apache warriors against a common enemy from beyond this world in an epic showdown for survival.
Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

 
A HD preview clip is now available for Cowboys and Aliens! With Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, the movie is based on the 2006 graphic novel story of aliens landing in the wild West of 19th century Arizona. To defend off the alien enslavement of humanity, everybody must work together. The scheduled release date is July 29th, 2011. :cool:

Synopsis from Yahoo movies....
1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde. It's a town that lives in fear.

But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known.

Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he has been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella, he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents - townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors - all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.
 
Film: Cowboys and Aliens (2011)

Film: Cowboys and Aliens (2011)

Compared with last week's post, this is going from one cultural extreme to the other. Yes, I know, the title should have warned me off, but I couldn't resist watching it!

Daniel Craig (the current James Bond, for the benefit of any readers from other planets) plays a gunman in the Wild West who wakes up with no memory but with a hi-tech bracelet firmly clipped around his wrist. At the same time, people are being attacked and captured by small flying machines. One of these crashes, and the tracks leaving it indicate that something decidedly non-human was on board.

A motley posse sets off on the hunt for the alien, and then in search of the source of these flying machines with the hope of rescuing the captured people. Apart from Craig, this includes Harrison Ford as a rich farmer, Olivia Wilde as eye candy (though she does turn out to have a role to play) and various assorted lawmen, cowboys, criminals and even Indians.

This is a lightweight and forgettable film but makes for a couple of hours of trivial entertainment, preferably watched in well-oiled social company in the mood for a laugh.

I do have one gripe (at the risk of a mild spoiler): why are "bad" aliens in such films always shown to be hideously ugly monsters with such deliberately evil intent? Do the film makers not realise that evil wearing an innocent face is far more chilling? Or that the activities of aliens on this planet might incidentally have a disastrous effect on humanity even without any evil intent? Or is such subtlety beyond their comprehension (or at least, more subversive than they think their target viewing public will accept)? Oh well, I suppose I'm expecting too much of a lowest-common-denominator popcorn movie based on (and closely resembling) a comic strip. To be fair, though, the good guys do not all get to live happily ever after.
6331135384154117296-1807690620539079183



(This entry is cross-posted from my science-fiction & fantasy blog.)
 
Got to see it for free (well, sort of) on a recent airline flight overseas...it was well worth what I paid. ;)

Overall, it was a good movie, but wasn't all that stellar. I think a person could easily wait for this one to come out on cable.
 

Similar threads

TRON: Ares
Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Adventure
Director: Joachim Rønning
Replies
1
Views
289
Tron (1982)
Tagline: A world inside the computer where man has never been. Until now.
Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Adventure
Director: Steven Lisberger
Release: 1982-07-09
Replies
1
Views
268
The Rocketeer (1991)
Tagline: An Ordinary Man Forced to Become An Extraordinary Hero.
Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction, Family
Director: Joe Johnston
Release: 1991-06-21
Replies
1
Views
238
Back
Top