Movies 158: Cowboys & Aliens

This is the movie I've been waiting for this summer. What a concept. There is something about being out in the wild west that conjures up Aliens in the wide open spaces. One doesn't even have to go to Arizona to feel it. I have to admit even in one scene, I could imagine how a pioneer would have felt seeing the Marfa Lights for the first time.

Jon Favreau certainly gives the feel of open spaces in this movie. There are bad guys everywhere you turn in this film. And they aren't even aliens. Those who are good turn bad quick..or so it seems. And someone who was bad, well, he might be the answer to everything. Maybe.

Who better to fight aliens than Indiana Jones & James Bond.

Daniel Craig's Jake is an unlikely hero. He wakes up with this thing on his wrist, and he doesn't even know who he is. Soon enough, bounty hunters find him. Luckily, Jake's a fighter. And as you can tell, he fights his way through the movie. Of course, Harrison Ford is an angry old rancher. He just can't seem to keep his son nor his cowboys in line. Even cows are getting blown up. Just what the movie needs, two anti-heros who can't see eye to eye on anything.

Cool and Calm Ella

Noah Ringer & Paul Dano

Paul Dano was a surprise in this film. Honestly, I've never seen this side of him and it was definitely refreshing and fun as Harrison Ford's dysfunctional son. Also Adam Beach was so true and genuine in this film. And Olivia Wilde was remarkable as Ella who has a few secrets of her own.

Honestly, a wonderful cast. The Arizona Territory ..so vast and natural. Then there are the Aliens.

Of course, they kept this film popping with action. Although, I wish Hollywood would give us a new breed of aliens. These creatures are just there. Killing machines. Really, no character. But they are the bad guys. A little dried up, but then slimy and cruel.

We have here a great John Wayne type story..where you hunt the aliens down, shoot and destroy. The actions scenes are epic. And it takes the Indians, desperadoes and anything else that can stop the alien invasion. Also, you see how this tale changes people. Its a great popcorn movie. Its good to see Harrison and Daniel in action, together. But they possibly would have gotten nowhere without the help of Olivia Wilde's Ella.

STORYLINE: The Old West.. where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world. 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 (Ford). 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's been.

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