#Cowboys and aliens emmett movie
One of my first questions about this movie was how the creators were going to make it believable that a bunch of primitive cowboys could go toe to claw with space-faring aliens, and they do manage to succeed. And their motivations for being are Earth are interesting, too. That being said, they do the job of providing a few scares here and there and they are lethal and powerful without being invincible. They don't have a landmark design like a Giger Alien or a Winston Predator. When we do see them, their design is pretty good, but you won't see people dressed as them at next year's San Diego Comic-Con. Clancy Brown, Adam Beach, Olivia Wilde, Noah Ringer, and Walton Goggins are all memorable, too.Īs far as the aliens go, we actually don't see a lot of them in the movie. Dano wasn't on my radar screen before this movie, but he is now.
He's great at playing the spoiled son of Woodrow and he and Craig are hilarious in every single scene they have together. I was also really impressed by Paul Dano as Percy Dolarhyde. Sam Rockwell gets to provide a lot of comic relief as Doc and he brings much needed laughs whenever the story gets too serious. Every character on the screen gets some moment to shine and win audiences over. I have to give credit to Favreau and writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof – they handled this large ensemble cast well. It's surprising to see Harrison Ford willing to share the spotlight with Daniel Craig, but in the end they both come out looking better for it. One scene where he tells a story from his youth to Emmett is arguably one of the more memorable scenes in Ford's recent career. He has some great scenes with Noah Ringer as Emmett Taggart and Adam Beach as Nat Colorado. Ford fans might be disappointed that he doesn't get as much screen time as Craig, but Ford makes up for quantity with quality. While seeing Indiana Jones teamed with James Bond on the big screen is enough to make a geek swoon, the two make you forget their iconic characters and you start seeing just Dolarhyde and Lonergan. You start to think Craig might actually be getting beaten up.Ĭraig is well-teamed with Harrison Ford. His fights are brutal, bloody, and they will make you cringe. Not only does he have the look of Steve McQueen or Paul Newman, but he brings the grittiness to "Cowboys & Aliens" that he brought to James Bond. He exudes cool in every frame of the film and perfectly nails the 'stranger with no name' from classic Westerns. While I came for the aliens, I have to admit that I stayed for the cowboys.
It's an incredibly fine line between becoming parody and being overly serious, yet Favreau does it seemingly effortlessly. They play it completely straight, yet amid the reality based premise Favreau and company still manage to inject the right amount of humor to let you know they're not taking everything too seriously. That's thanks in large part to director Jon Favreau hitting the tone just right. They can go together like chocolate and peanut butter. If there was any question whether you could blend a Western with a sci-fi premise, consider the question answered. It intends to be a fun genre mash-up and that's exactly what it is. "Cowboys & Aliens" certainly wears its intentions on its sleeve.