Cowboys And Aliens Review (3.5/5)

Cowboys And Aliens is a strange one: much of the film's appeal comes from its titular throwback to the Wild West flicks of yore, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly and all that, but as soon as those pesky extraterresterials get involved, it struggles to know which genre it would rather be a part of, and comes off a little worse for its uncertainty. Don't get me wrong, it's not the cast who I have a problem with here- Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde all give it their all throughout, working well both in the typical Western scenes and in the confrontations with CGI aliens (although it is very obvious that the antagonists aren't actually on set). No, it's that the juxtaposition of two genres becomes blindingly noticable, with the screenplay artists seeming eager to remind us every five or ten minutes that this isn't a finely crafted Western with deep character drama or human setpieces, but instead an overly long, shallow romp. How do they do this? Why, by bringing back the spaceships, of course! Just as we begin to feel we know the protagonists a little better, or feel genuine empathy for the bartender who has lost his wife, the Indian slave trying to prove himself to Ford's arrogant Colonel or any of the other well-scripted 'cowboys', the script feels the need to spruce things up a little bit (when they don't need sprucing up) via a full-blown assault either by one of the creatures or their peculiar vessels, neither of which impress compared to Avatar or Tron: Legacy at any point in their regular appearances. I did, however, enjoy Cowboys And Aliens, which may not seem to be reflected in the tone of the review so far, but that's only because there's so much untapped potential, perhaps wasted by the third word in its title, and I fail to see how the opportunity to get such screen legends back together on-screen for a fully blown, unadapted Western will ever arise again. If it does, I'll be first in line, and the score would undoubtedly be considerably higher if the variety of great, faithful desert scenes on offer here are anything to go by. Since that isn't going to happen, though, we're left with a film which shines in several places, yet is held back from any kind of greatness by the offworld invaders chucked in to sell tickets as a predictable, popcorn summer blockbuster. By all means go and see this if you're a fan of Westerns or sci-fi, but the vast helping of the other genre on both sides may ultimately hamper your overall enjoyment.