Cowboys and Aliens, what’s not to love?
If the title Cowboys and Aliens doesn’t spark something in you, then your imagination might need some tweaking. Just the idea of it was enough to get me interested from the start, then I saw the trailer and saw the people who was involved and I got really excited. So what happened?
The film revolves around Daniel Craig as a cowboy with amnesia and a mysterious weapon attached to his wrist. And it’s not long before the aliens from the title make a appearance and the major conflict begins, bringing together western archetypes together to do what we all came for, kick ass. So with this all going on why was I just entertained by this film and not in love with it?
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I think it can be summed up in one word; potential. The main problem had to do with the characters. Aside from a couple stand out characters (such as Harrison Ford), none of them were all that interesting. Most of them never broke out of the archetype they were introduced as, they seemed to just be filling the generic ‘doctor’ or ‘preacher’ role. Even Daniel Craig’s character who started off very interesting ended up becoming less and less so the more we figured out about him. One of the biggest character reveals can be guessed from the beginning of the film, way before the person was supposed to ‘shock’ us with it.
The action was fantastic. I loved seeing the gritty cowboys fighting against the superior technologically advanced aliens. Whenever any of those scenes started and the clash between these two groups happened, I was on the edge of my seat waiting for more.
The story isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination. At no point in this was I bored or was wondering what I’d be doing after the movie. It’s just that it seems they could have done more. There is a point where the cowboys meet another group and anyone paying attention could draw some similarities between the present situation and one in the past, but the movie never does. I’m not saying it needed to be included, just seemed like something that would’ve been mentioned and might have made for more interesting character arcs.
If all you’re looking to do is have fun at the movies, this is a great one to do so at. If you’re looking for the movie to go beyond the appeal of it’s title for deep characters and story line, this isn’t it. Definitely see this one if it looked cool to you.