- Click on image to view trailer
Director: John Favreau
Writers: Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman, and Seven Others
Stars: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford
Cowboys & Aliens is not a good movie, nor is it a one-star movie–I’m looking at you Rene Rodriguez. The movie suffers from having too many chefs in the kitchen–in this case writers. So what went wrong? The Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) character for one. He starts off as too evil, turns too nice, and you don’t believe that his son (Paul Dano) would have turned out the way he did. Upon further thought, he would produce a son like this. Dolarhyde would be so focused on his business that he would neglect his son, and his son would lash out for attention. Another negative are the aliens. The script can’t seem to decide whether they are easy or difficult to kill. Also, the editing is off (not that it seemed like too much was left on the floor, but more that a scene started too late).
So what was good about the film? I didn’t fall asleep, and it kept me entertained. In other words, it is a rental. There is nothing spectacular about the effects that mandate you watch them on the big screen, nor will you feel like you wasted your money if you go when you have nothing better to do.
I was let down by this movie, and I believe many others were as well. I think of all the summer movies, I was most excited about this one. Before Rene’s review, I had trepidations about the quality of the film. The last trailer did not impress me. When I saw on IMDB how many writers were involved, I knew something was amiss. The lackluster tone of voice from John Hein of The Howard Stern Show and Geektime when he said, “it’s good”, sounded more like something nice to say about a friend than an impassioned commentary.
After reading Rene Rodriguez’s post on facebook about his thoughts when he left the screening, I knew I was in danger of having to do something I have never done before–watch a one-star movie in the theatre. And then it happened. The Miami Herald weekend section came out. I was hoping for two-stars, but no, the dreaded one-star. I had painted myself into a corner. By dedicating a whole week of this blog to cowboys, aliens, and Harrison Ford in anticipation of this movie, I had no choice but to watch it. A while back I decided that I would always see a movie I was interested in no matter what the critics said unless it got one-star. My logic was simple: a bad movie is a bad movie is a bad movie, and a one-star movie is a bad movie. Again, I think the one-star was a little harsh. But Rene was like me–really excited about this movie. I think the one-star is more a reflection of how much the movie disappointed him more than a reflection on the quality of the film.
Grade: C-
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