Now, I’m just gonna throw it out there that I haven’t read
Cowboys & Aliens, so I naturally won’t be as picky with this comic book movie as some of the others that I’ve seen. But I think there are two types of people in this world. There are the people that say, "Cowboys and aliens? That’s stupid!" And then there are the people that go, "Cowboys and aliens? That’s amazing!" I’m the latter. It’s like God decided to make the perfect movie for my mom, so I was excited for her and excited myself.
Overall, I thought it was an enjoyable film from start to finish. You really can’t go wrong with a cast like this. Daniel Craig played a mysterious cowboy who couldn’t remember who he was or whether he was a good or bad man. Harrison Ford was the hotshot who ran the town with an iron fist. Olivia Wade was also a mysterious woman who knows more than what she should. Sam Rockwell was the town wuss who had to eventually prove himself. Everyone really did a really good job, from the big roles to the henchmen. I even forgive Noah Ringer for Aang and can rest assured that the failures of
The Last Airbender will and forever be the fault of M. Night Shyamalan.
The thing I liked the most about this movie was that it felt brutal. From the very first fight, I felt the violence and I liked it. The battle with the aliens was no joke and it was hard to see how the cowboys could win the day. At one point you think they might have an advantage, but man it’s just a hard fight! The aliens were pretty hardcore and they were some of the nastiest and creepiest aliens since
Aliens. They just don’t make monsters like they used to.
I thought a lot of the movie was unpredictable. I didn’t know who was gonna get abducted, live, and who would die and sometimes how it happened was unexpected and my mouth dropped a few times, but I’m not the type of person that tries to figure a movie out. Most of the time, I try to relax and enjoy the film. Yes, some things in the movie were predictable. But if you’ve seen a lot of movies, writers and directors set up certain scenes for you to remember–like a foreshadowing–and you can figure out where the movie is gonna go for a specific character and who is gonna reappear and so on. That’s basic movie law. So it’s not totally unpredictable, but enough of it is surprising.
I really liked the characters in this film. I thought they did a good job of peeling back the layers and showing that everyone really had a lot of heart. It’s not a brilliant concept, but it was brilliantly executed for what it was. I think Jon Favreau did an excellent job. It had a great flow. It wasn’t too complicated. It felt very manly, but there are moments where you might shed some tears. It was funny, scary, sad, hopeful, action packed, and engaging.
This has been "The Year of the Geek" with so many films to really make nerds happy. This movie was much better than I anticipated. Just like
I Am Number Four was a pleasant surprise, this one was even more so. It’s one of most enjoyable films I’ve seen this year. I think people will really, really enjoy this. I highly recommend it!