Cowboys and Aliens Movie review
All pictures and videos in this review are legal under the terms of the fair use agreement of 1976.
It’s time for another movie review. Okay this is a rather unique one to say the least. Usually, I don’t like referring to myself in these reviews. But in this case, it’s rather appropriate. The movie up for review is Cowboys & Aliens based on the graphic novel of the same name. Of note the graphic novel got published by Malibu Comics. Now where to begin with this film?
When I saw the trailer for this movie in theaters years ago, I admit I wasn’t impressed. The name caused me a certain measure of cynicism towards it. Which was why I never saw it in theaters. But a viewer of mine named Linda requested this movie so I decided to take them up on it. I’ll do what I can to make my viewers happy.
Now having seen the movie I can say this. I have never been happier to be wrong about a movie! I was expecting a cringy movie seen on Mystery Science Theater 3000. But to my surprise this quintessential popcorn movie has heart and soul to it. This 2011 movie got directed by John Favreau whose credits include Iron Man.
I have to say Favreau’s adaptation of the graphic novel was well done.
Now with that said on to the movie itself.
The year is 1873 in the New Mexico territory of the United States. A stranger played by Daniel Craig wakes up in the middle of the desert. The man can’t remember anything, not even who he is. The only things he has are a picture and a strange metal bracelet on his left wrist. Ah the classic man with no memory bit is a concept that opens all kinds of possibilities.
Three men on horseback and a dog find the man. After a brief conversation they decide he’s a convict and worth something. But the stranger is no slouch and ends up taking the men down. After that he takes some of their clothes, their ammo, a horse, and the dog. The man then heads for the town of Absolution.
The man wanders into town and ends up in someone’s home. While washing his face he gets a gun pointed to his head. The man pointing the gun is Preacher Meacham. In the wild west a man of God had to be ready to defend himself. Things could get rough and nasty out there.
Clancy Brown took on the role of Preacher Meacham. And he was quite convincing in his role. Meacham ends up fixing up the stranger. While at it the Preacher comes across a wound he notes wasn’t made by any gun. Okay things are starting to get weird here!
But as things are settling down more trouble starts. Percy Dolarhyde is up to no good again. Percy is the son of cattleman and former colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde. Paul Dano took on the part of Percy. And it’s clear Woodrow is the only one bringing money to the sleepy little town of Absolution.
Percy is quite the spoiled brat. He’s shooting at the sign for the local saloon. Doc, the town’s doctor, and saloon owner' is at once angry yet scared by the boy’s behavior. With him is his wife, Maria.
Sam Rockwell played the role of Doc. Maria got played by actress Ana de la Reguera. Percy seems to be above the law and is taking advantage of Doc’s gentle nature. The Dolarhyde brat starts to make a scene. But the stranger who’s been watching isn’t having any of Percy’s nonsense.
Percy injures a deputy after trying to shoot the stranger. At that moment Sherriff Taggart steps in. The part of Sherriff Taggart got played by Keith Carradine. He is the brother of David Carridine, and actor John Carradine’s son. After a brief exchange Taggart takes Percy into custody fed up with his antics.
A good distance away some cattle hands for Woodrow Dolarhyde are talking at a campfire. And one of them is very drunk. As he stumbles to the nearby river a blast destroys the camp and his colleagues. He gets knocked into the river. And when he emerges, he finds nothing left except for fiery craters.
Uh-oh there’s trouble around the corner in more ways than one!
The Sherriff decides he’s sending Percy to Santa Fe to get judged there. But then he notes the wanted poster with the picture of the stranger. The man is Jake Lonergan a notorious outlaw wanted for several major crimes.
At the saloon Jake, who has no idea who he is enters. Maria lets him have some whiskey on the house after what he did. Then a woman comes up to the stranger. She introduces herself as Ella Swanson. It soon becomes clear she knows things about Jake that even he doesn’t know.
Sherriff Taggart and a group of men enter intent on taking the amnesiac outlaw into custody. But Jake proves to be quite the fighter and almost manages to get away. But then Ella hits him on the head knocking him out cold. After that Jake has a series of blurred visions but one figure that stands out is a girl. Her name is Alice, and her meaning will come into play soon enough.
He awakens to find Percy in the cell across from him. The boy taunts the stranger about what his father is going to do. The outlaw shuts Percy up by slamming him into the bars knocking him out cold. A crude but effective way to put a lid on the peanut gallery.
Taggart explains to Jake what he’s accused of and that he’s getting shipped off for trial. It seems he robbed a stagecoach full of gold and was responsible for the murder of a girl. Yet Jake is still in the dark about what is going on.
Meanwhile the surviving cattle hand gets interrogated by Woodrow Dolarhyde on what happened. Legendary actor Harrison Ford plays the cattle baron. With him is his right-hand man Apache Nat Colorado. Dolarhyde is ready to kill the cattle hand believing he’s telling false stories. But then he gets word that Jake Lonergan is in town and in Taggart’s custody as is Percy.
At once he's furious with his son’s stupid antics. But he’s eager to get his hands on Lonergan as the stagecoach that got robbed was his. Well, this got more complicated in a hurry. Dolarhyde orders Colorado to round up more men as they’re heading for Absolution.
A short time later Lonergan and young Dolarhyde get cuffed and brought out of their cells. Outside awaits some well-armed guards and a prison wagon. One bound for Santa Fe and the judges in that city. Percy's horrified by this as it’s clear he’s never had consequences before. Welcome to the real world of the wild west spoiled brat.
Watching things is Sherriff Taggart’s young grandson Emmett. The part of the boy got played by Noah Ringer.
After getting loaded up the wagon is about to head out. Then Woodrow Dolarhyde and his men come riding into town. Woodrow makes it clear he is not pleased with his son. But he also wants Lonergan as he wants to settle the score his way. It seems there’s a standoff between the Sherriff and Dolarhyde’s men.
As this is going on Ella reappears and she and the amnesiac outlaw get into an argument.
Without warning the strange bracelet on Jake’s left wrist starts to glow. Percy for his part is clueless on what’s going on. Everyone turns when they hear the dog barking at the other exit to town. Everyone goes silent as they see strange lights coming towards them.
And here’s where things go sideways. The town and people get attacked by strange alien ships. Pandemonium breaks loose as everyone flees for their lives. Jake gets free of the prison wagon which got toppled over in the attack. Sherriff Taggart, Maria, and Percy are some of those taken by the strange flying machines.
The wrist bracelet turns into a strange weapon and downs one of the ships. A furious and terrified Dolarhyde and Lonergan check the ship. At first, they think it’s dead. But then one of the surviving town citizens gets slaughtered by the ship’s pilot. Well, this got hairy in a hurry.
Dolarhyde notes they can’t track the creature when it’s dark and decide to set out at first light. Woodrow orders Jake to come with him but Jake isn’t having any of it. He even retaliates with a punch of his own after getting hit by Woodrow. Looks like Woodrow Dolarhyde has found someone he can’t intimidate into obedience.
At dawn Jake sets out on his own only to get followed by Ella. After giving her a talking to he takes off. He reaches an abandoned cabin. There in a flashback he recalls some things. He recalls when he returned to Alice. As it turns up, she and Jake were lovers.
The outlaw had indeed stolen a shipment of gold. He had planned to use it so he and Alice could have a life together. That was right before the two got abducted by the aliens. And so, some of the pieces are starting to fall into place on the amnesiac outlaw’s previous life.
Afterward Jake returns and joins up with the posse. Emmett and Ella have already joined the posse as has the dog. They travel in search of the injured alien. They end up coming across the remains of a paddle wheel steamship. What’s a steamship doing in the middle of the New Mexico desert? It’s clear the aliens had something to do with this.
With a storm descending the posse takes shelter from it in the ship’s remains. Within Doc starts to learn how to use a gun with help from Precher Meacham. Woodrow becomes something of a father, or rather grandfather figure to young Emmett. Meanwhile Jake is still in the dark for the most part about his past.
Then the alien shows up to wreak havoc. Meachum gets killed during the incident and the dog's presumed dead or run off.
In the morning the rest of the posse has run off. How’s that for gratitude geez! The rest of the posse continue the alien’s trail and run into Jake’s old gang. As it turns up, they are not happy to see him. It turns up Jake stole the gold they took from their last heist.
Pat Dolan played by David O' Hara is now leader of Jake’s old gang. The two get into a fight and Jake ends up using his weapon to shoot Pat after he insults Ella by calling her a whore. Jake then kicks Pat’s right-hand man in the privates before he and the rest take off. Jake’s old gang comes after them. But surprise-surprise the aliens come calling again.
They wipe the floor with Jake’s old gang. No surprise since they have superior firepower and tech. The aliens kidnap Ella but Jake goes after her. A wild roller coaster ride of a chase ensues. The ship crashes but the alien pilot survives.
He lands some fatal wounds to Ella before Jake kills him with the alien weapon.
By the time he gets Ella back to the others it’s already too late. The group is then captured by an Indian tribe. To be exact this group is of the Chiricahua Apache tribe. It seems the tribe have also had people stolen by the aliens and they blame the settlers for their woes.
An Apache warrior sets Ella’s corpse on the funeral fire. That proves to be the catalyst for a surprise plot twist. Ella revives from death, naked but very much alive and in one piece. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of its previous life. Well, that’s one way to turn around a bad situation.
Afterward they sit down for a meeting. The tribal chief goes by the name Black Knife. His role got taken on by Raoul Trujillo. He and Dolarhyde get into a nasty disagreement. Then Doc who’s changed has to step in and play peacemaker.
Ella then explains she comes from another alien race who these aliens visited. They learn the aliens are here because they are mining for gold. They’re taking humans to perform experiments on them to find weaknesses. It seems the aliens are a scout force. And if they make it into space, they’ll bring back more and no one will survive that.
Well, isn’t that a great way to light up the evening. All sides agree to set aside their differences and work to stop the aliens and rescue those taken.
Jake to be of help to them goes through an Apache ritual. There he learns the whole story about Alice and the gold he stole. He learns that the aliens killed Alice in cold blood. Uh-oh that’s going to anger Jake big time.
The next day as the group comes up with a plan Jake takes off. He grabs his old gang convincing them to take one last ride with him.
After that it’s a countdown to the final confrontation. Will Jake and Ella save the people taken by the aliens? Will they be able to stop them from getting word back to their home world? And what will the price be for all those in the fighting force?
Now as I said the film’s name was not the most inspiring. That said, this was a very good popcorn film. Daniel Craig did an excellent job as Jake Lonergan. Harrison Ford is superb as the brutal, at times ruthless Woodrow Dolarhyde. Keith Carradine puts in a great performance as Sherriff Taggart.
Olivia Wilde is great as Ella Swanson. She’s a strong female character but she doesn’t put down any of the men in this movie.
It’s okay to have strong female characters. So long as they’re not putting down the men and demanding that people confirm how great they are then it's fine.
Again, I have never been happier to be wrong about a movie. And Cowboys & Aliens is a solid Sci-fi meets the wild west action movie. My only real complaint is they were a little vague on how the dog survived after its encounter with the alien. They could’ve done a better job explaining that. But that’s a very small detail which didn’t take much away from the movie.
Overall, this is a solid evening at the movies view. Go ahead and check it out whether it’s at the local theater, on Blu-Ray, DVD 4k, or on streaming. I give this movie a solid B rating. It’s nothing grandiose or history making but its good movie watching.
So, check out Cowboys & Aliens whenever you have the chance.
Thanks for reading this movie review. I hope it gave you some good insight into Cowboys & Aliens. Let me know your thoughts in the comments about this movie review. Did I do good or does my writing need improvement? Constructive criticism is welcome here. Your input helps me become a better writer.
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