Cowboys & Aliens

Yep. Here it is: probably the film I've been most excited for this summer, the absolutely ludicrous Cowboys & Aliens. From the second I heard the title, I knew it was going to be brilliantly fun, then when I found out that not only would the usually faultless Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde have roles, but also attached was movie legend and the man pretty much every bloke would give his right arm and kidney to be, Harrison Ford. And just to make it even more perfect, it's directed by John Favreau, the man responsible for the fairly fantastic Iron Man films. Yeah...this film had a huge amount of hype to live up to.

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Luckily, it lived up to it. Take that, suspense!

Right from the off you find yourself absolutely loving Daniel Craig's Jake Lonergan character, a typical rough, tough, sweaty, dirty, knuckleslinging cowboy you'd want to find in any good Western movie. We're gradually brought into the story almost through Lonergan's eyes, as he tries to unravel the mystery of the strange metallic bracelet he has suddenly found attached to his arm. Even though we all know the idea of alien meet cowboy situation is off the chart crazy, we sort of just go along with it, in a very good way. We accept it, because the characters are genuinely surprised by the appearance of alien activity. And it's through Lonergan that we get to this point, as he slowly unearths the answers to more questions surrounding both the bracelet and his lack of memory from the starting point of the film.

Olivia Wilde fills a role which is somewhat familiar to the Western genre yet again, albeit with a fairly massive twist. She plays Ella Swenson, the mysterious traveller who seems to know too much about our heroes and their situation, far more than said heroes know themselves. And the twist...nope. It's a goodun, if a little predictable when you're watching it, but you'll have to go see it...Totally worth it mind.

And then of course, there's Sir Harrison of Ford. We may all remember him for being Han Solo and Indiana Jones, and rightly so, but his role as Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde is one that he seems to have been made for in his more senior age. He's another Western standard - the crotchety war veteran, still feared and still with a great deal of power, although he has a much more tender side to him, which is brought out through his relationship with his son and closest companion. Ford does everything you want him to, from gunslinging to great tongue-in-cheek lines, his overall performance is very much impressive...and as much as I enjoyed the fourth Indiana Jones film, there's something satisfactory about him getting his own back on some aliens who may or may not have been involved in Indy 4.

Oh, there's also Sam Rockwell in it too, playing Doc, the saloon owner of the town in the middle of the alien dilemma. Doc is basically there to provide a bit of comic relief, which Rockwell manages easily, as well as getting across a bit of a more serious side, dealing with the disappearance of his wife early in the film.

The story is a good one, nice and simple really. You could easily just replace the "&" in the title with "VS" and you've got the top and bottom of it. But like I rambled on about before, even though you know the concept is more than a little insane, at no point do you really think about it as such. It's all done with an honest sense of humour - it knows it's a bit ridiculous - but it's just about serious enough to make you think...well what would it be like if cowboys stumbled across aliens? The film just gets over the alien factor by applying that oh-so American, and particularly cowboy mantra of  "Yep, that's a massive problem that I never thought of...but it needs sorting". And even more American, that problem is sorted with guns. Lots of guns. And possibly the coolest weapon ever to imminently hit Toy'r'Us shelves in the form of Daniel Craig's bracelet deely.

And just to prove once more that Favreau is a director of genuine talent, not only does he make sure that the characters develop gradually, not only does he secure a sense of humour about the film, but he ensures that the special effects do not become overbearing and cheesey. All too easy it would have been to make the aliens absolutely horrendous to look at - and they still are pretty weirdy - but Favreau reigns it in and gets the balance right between scary alien and farcical. So basically, nothing as truly disturbing as this. There's also a bit of a new take on alien weaponry, other than just lasers and various beams, there's a extremely shiny array of mysterious metallic rope lines, weird spaceship things, and a heap of supernatural lights going on.

I guess all in all, the film embodies everything you can find in Independence Day, but with a bit less cheese in it. And I mean, come on...you know you all sort of want to see Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford shooting at a big bunch of aliens with old school pistols and shotguns, right?

4/5 - It's great, extremely entertaining, acted, directed and almost everything elsed very well. Only thing that lets it down somewhat is the fact that the story is guilty of going a bit wishy-washy, major details sometimes arise and are just taken on board, rather than speculated over...or even reacted to in some cases.

Nonetheless, this film is one of the most fun things you're likely to see at the cinema this year. Just make sure you go see it without taking it too seriously. It's a good story, but it wants you to know it's trying to entertain, and it manages it with great ease.