I just finished watching 'cowboys and aliens' (just released on DVD and blu-ray) and decided that a review was in order since I don't regularly contribute to the site, (I'll try to be spoiler free). Even though it was a Jon Favreau movie I didn't expect much. I read the comic book in 2008ish and as I felt that the books comedic elements didn't really lend themselves to a big budget movie, although the whole alien spaceship elements would look cool.
First I'm going to mention Daniel Craig's performance, which is outstanding. I'm used to seeing this man play the “hard-man” type of character that can solve any problem by beating the holy shit out of anyone and anything. Yes, he's that guy again but I was surprised to see that he actually seems intelligent and thinks things through. His monosyllabic drawl adds to give him an intimidating persona, too, and its not a wonder people look worried around him.
Harrison Ford is also outstanding having finally found a character that isn't Indiana Jones or the guy from “The Fugitive” that he can really pull off well. He looks like Indiana Jones, I agree, but this guy is no where near the adventure loving hero we're used to. This guy is a battle hardened veteran who, despite his apparent racism (towards the native americans), actually has a heart and there are some really nice scenes between his character and the young native boy.
Olivia Wilde is good but her part seems to be just to drive the story and provide the much needed eye candy.
I was also surprised by Sam Rockwell's performance who, lets face it, usually plays a dick. Just look at his roles as Justin Hammer and Wild Bill in the Green Mile.
The sets are pretty basic in the movie. I'm talking spaghetti western movie looks and I felt that that was all that was needed. The alien ships is designed to hide amongst the cliff faces which really adds to the realism of an alien scouting force not looking to be noticed. The films technology does look a bit plastic, unfortunately. The gauntlet gun, for example, is clearly not made of metal. It doesn't really hurt the film because that gun is just so damned cool when it powers up and the holograms and the likes are added.
The story is well crafted and credit goes to Favreau who took yet another comic book story and put his own spin on it. The main theme of the film he's identified is redemption, and is a common one to comic books and CBMs. In this case, the redemption doesn't come from the whole “great power, great responsibility” point of view. For this film, its about facing up to your past and others and realizing that maybe there is a chance for the ones you've hurt to forgive you and for you to forgive the ones that have hurt you.
Olivia Wilde's character is the obvious exception to this as she has her own reasons for being involved but since I'm trying to keep this as spoiler free as possible I'll say no more (its not like its difficult to watch her anyway).
The movie really does drive the concept of redemption and acceptance of others to achieve this and has some great scenes that allow you to understand why a character needs to overcome their obstacles. There is a line that goes “if you're such a great warrior, why do you only have a man, and a boy to follow you into battle?”. This gives us a deeper insight into the pain that the character is feeling.
Overall, I would give 'cowboys and aliens' a reasonable 8/10. Like I said, there are elements that look cheap in the film. For which, there is no excuse when you consider films like 'district 9' and the budget that they had to play with for this film. The fact that the movie is story driven is its saving grace. It might seem like a very long film during the build up but the payoff is well worth it. With the actors shining in their performances I don't think there's much room to complain.
Overall buy it on DVD but don't be to worried about blu-ray unless its cheap. (Sorry Jon I love you, really)
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