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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

[5.00/10] Cowboys & Aliens (2011)


Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

Brief review: It's hard to believe that the creator of the fantastic "Iron Man" 1 & 2, Jon Favreau, has directed this disappointing mess of a movie, based on the 2006 graphic novel of the same name. He tries to merge two completely different genres, sadly very unsuccessfully, and as a result, his latest blockbuster "Cowboys & Aliens" ends up being unimpressive, uneven, and pretty lackluster in terms of execution. Although the action sequences are remarkably well-shot and pretty striking, surprisingly, those are very few and far between, and that's not a good thing for a movie that pretends to be a sci-fi epic. The scenery is typically western, and mostly consists of a sterile wilderness that is quite boring to watch, but the saturated color scheme of the cinematography makes it a bit more appealing to the eye. The special effects are absolutely first-rate and pretty slick, but they can't compensate for the director's lack of inspiration and а clear vision about what he's really trying to achieve. Daniel Craig is solid as usual as the central character, and Harrison Ford, while a bit underused, does his best with the material he's given. Olivia Wilde, gives another average performance as
Jake's love interest, and the supporting cast does a passable job.

Overall summary: As silly as its title suggests, "Cowboys & Aliens" boasts some top-notch special effects and great action scenes, but it's mostly a dull, disjointed and unspectacular sci-fi/western hybrid that fails to engage, despite its capable director and competent cast.

24 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

It could've been more, but I still enjoyed it.

Unknown said...

Looks like I made the right choice to give this a miss earlier this Summer.

Maurice Mitchell said...

I'm going to watch this no matter how bad the reviews are. I love Jon Favreau and Iron Man that much...

Unknown said...

I love the idea of this and love the graphic novel, but I was really disappointed by the trailer and by the casting of Olivia Wilde. She's not a good actress and certainly is over-matched by Ford and Craig. She could never hold her own with them.

Brutally excellent review, hon!

SoberFilmCritic said...

The idea of combining the Wild West and outer space in a film is just so crazy that it could have worked. With names like Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, and Jon Favreau behind Cowboys & Aliens, we should have expected great things from the film. An even better case could be made for the movie given that it's starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. Unfortunately, the film does not live up to its hype and the reputations of the A-listers behind it. Cowboys & Aliens is a good idea with great talent — on and off screen — drowned in bad filmmaking. For more of my thoughts on Cowboys & Aliens, check out my review on Sobriety Test Movie Reviews

dolorah said...

Ahhh, like a knife to my heart. I loved this movie. The ending was the only thing that kinda disappointed me - it felt too forced. They all just, walked away.

But, I did love the rest of the movie . .

.......dhole

Anonymous said...

I watched this movie and I didn't like the story of this movie. I think the director of this movie had not make he story very interesting.

Maynard Morrissey said...

enjoyed a bit more than you but overall I fully agree with you. Definitely one of this year's biggest disappointments. Pity, this could have been really, really great :-/

✗✗ said...

Well that sounds about right. I recently tried to watch this and I was bored within the first 10 minutes. After a good 45 minutes I ended up doing something else. It just didn't do anything for me, which is too bad because it has a pretty nice cast. I guess I just expected more.

M Pax said...

Oh bummer. I'm still looking forward to watching this over the holidays though.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Alex, it could have been SO MUCH better. I don't know what's happening with Jon, but he really blew it this time around.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

J-Son, you did the right thing choosing not to see this disappointing, overhyped, mediocre movie. It left such a bad taste in my mouth.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Maurice, I love Favreau and both Iron Man films A LOT, but this one is a piece of junk compared to them. You won't believe that Favreau directed this one... it's surprisingly dull.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Mel, sweetheart, I hated the trailer as well. I couldn't believe how bad it looked, and that's why I missed it in theaters. Well, I'm glad I did, because it wasn't great at all.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

SoberFilmCritic, well-said, and I can't agree more with you on this one. And your blog is absolutely unique. I love it! Thanks for the detailed and thoughtful comment.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Donna, I'm sorry you felt that way while reading my review, but I was just honest. To me almost everything about it felt forced...

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

chilsonrolen, I don't think the problem lied in the story... Just the execution of it was weak and unimaginative.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Maynard, ah, tell me about it. I knew it won't be great, because the previews were pretty bad, but I didn't expect it to be that dull and uninteresting.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Nicole, the cast is great, the director is fantastic, but the movie itself felt sort. I'm kinda pissed off, because I expected it to be (at least) a lot of fun.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

M Pax, I hope you'll like it more than I did. It just didn't work for me... at all.

Maynard Morrissey said...

Yeah you're right, the previews weren't that satisfying - still I had some hope for it.

Haven't seen the Iron Man films but I'm sure that they are waaaay better than C&A.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Maynard, I think you'll be surprised how much you're going to enjoy Iron Man if you give it a chance. The sequel is almost as great.

HorrO said...

Can't really disagree with anything you said, but I think I liked it a little more than you. It definitely was not a summer blockbuster like it tried to be. I enjoyed the action, acting, and the aliens. Again, not great, but it didn't bother me too much. Great review!

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

HorrO, I was extremely disappointed by this one. Its pacing was so off, I lost my interest rather quickly. Te CGIs were fantastic though.