![]() The next morning, the stranger and Dolarhyde put aside their differences and lead a posse after the “demons” that took their loved ones. As the story progresses and he makes his way to a nearby town, called Absolution, he soon finds himself locked up in prison by Sheriff Taggart (Keith Carradine), his eventual transfer to federal custody halted when a powerful local rancher, the hard-edged Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford), calls for his head.Īll at once, lights appear in the distance and out of the night sky comes an onslaught of UFOs that, after a barrage of laser blasts and explosions, swoop down and capture several townsfolk, grappling onto them with wires that yank them into the sky. When the travelers attempt to take the stranger into custody for a suspected bounty, Craig reacts by killing them with expert speed and skill. Just then, three travelers, a crusty father (genre legend Buck Taylor) and his two sons, surround him on horseback. Craig’s nameless stranger awakens in the Arizona desert with amnesia, his boots gone, and some kind of metallic contraption banded around his wrist. The story begins like many Westerns, with the introduction of the mysterious hero. But then, Favreau has more class than to follow Michael Bay’s school of thought-that every frame of celluloid should contain action. And with the inclusion of stars Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, seen by millions as Indiana Jones and James Bond, moviegoers may become frustrated when Favreau remains so true to Western conventions that he begins with an easy pace, takes his time building characters, and then ends his picture with a massive shootout finale. Many audiences will expect that from Favreau, given his “fun” track record of titles like Elf and Zathura. It doesn’t feel like a story conceived by two children who decided to forgo their routine game of “Cowboys & Indians” and incorporate aliens into the mix instead. It’s not a rip-roaring, fast-paced adventure that expects you to check your brain at the box-office. Adapted by five credited screenwriters from the Scott Mitchell Rosenberg authored comic, the film serves up an interesting-if-serious-minded genre experiment that works, despite some lingering feelings of disappointment for its lack of raw, popcorn-munching silliness.Īlas, this summer blockbuster doesn’t feel as “fun” as it perhaps should have. Jon Favreau left his director’s chair on the Iron Man franchise for this project, and he brings his usual technical craftsmanship to a picture whose genre awareness is shown through subtle, indirect references, while all the time allowing the film to be its own beast. As the title suggests, Cowboys & Aliens embraces a whole cinematic history of tropes from “alien invasion” and Westerns films, stripping down both genres to their most basic form into a deceptively unique amalgamation.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |