11/12/2022 0 Comments Cast of cowboys and aliensThe desert town of Absolution is controlled by Col. So by taking these two genres and putting them together, it allowed us to make a very traditional western with this sci-fi element to it.”īased on the 2006 graphic novel created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Cowboys & Aliens - set to open July 29 in theaters and drive-ins everywhere - spins a fanciful tale set in the New Mexico Territory of 1875. “Because even though, up until recently, the western has been viewed as box office poison by Hollywood, the alien invasion movie has been seen as a very lucrative international genre. “The alien side of it is what really made it possible,” the director claims. Oddly enough, it was the outer space aspect that revived interest. And our stories somehow become bigger and more timeless when set in the mythic West.” Trouble is, back when Cowboys & Aliens originally was green lighted for production - that is, before Rango, True Grit, and the video game Red Dead Redemption recently launched what Favreau hopes is a western revival - the genre was viewed as, if not dead, then pretty dang dormant. “I think most directors, deep down, have the desire to make a western,” Favreau says. Indeed, Favreau believes that even with the help of Hollywood heavy hitters Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard, who serve as producers on Cowboys & Aliens, he still would have had a hard time getting his latest project off the ground if Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Keith Carradine, Adam Beach, and other notables in his cast weren’t sharing screen time with . well, aliens. But he notes, “We were sorely disappointed when we found out that, at the time, there was no market - especially in foreign territories, in international sales - for a western.” “I’ve always been a fan of westerns,” Favreau insists, pointing out that after he scored a surprise success as costar, screenwriter, and coproducer of Swingers, his 1996 breakout indie comedy, he and collaborator Vince Vaughn cowrote a dead-serious Wild West drama called The Marshal of Revelation. No matter what you might have thought when you first heard the title Cowboys & Aliens, no matter what you may have dreaded when you started considering the outlandish possibilities of a sci-fi western mash-up, director Jon Favreau ( Iron Man) wants to set you straight: He’s playing for keeps while aiming to please with “a very traditional western” that just happens to include some extraterrestrials. But once the gang saddle up, what started as ‘True Grit’-meets-’War of the Worlds’ ends up closer to – whisper it – ‘Wild Wild West’.Despite the extraterrestrials, if director Jon Favreau has his way, this may be the next classic western. With slick action and effects, ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ is a good-looking movie that passes muster as a visual diversion. But the biggest problem is a lack of humour: while Craig looks every inch the cowboy and handles gruff action well, Robert Downey Jr he ain’t.Ī handful of funnies simply isn’t enough in a film that should have been handled with B-movie glee rather than pompous plod. The aliens themselves have little personality, and their appearance is all too derivative (think slimy grey skin and ‘Alien’-style inner jaws). Characters are undercooked, with only a potential romance (Craig and Olivia Wilde) and a surrogate-son routine (Ford and Adam Beach) offering emotional engagement. But Woodrow and our hero must team up when an alien spaceship swoops in, plucking up victims and prompting a disparate band of cowboys, Native Americans and mysterious strangers to track it through the wilderness. It’s soon clear he can remember how to fight, however, as he rides into the nearest town and humiliates Percy Dolarhyde (Paul Dano), the arrogant drunken son of big-shot cattleman Woodrow (Harrison Ford). The idea of aliens descending on a dusty Wild West town has widespread popcorn appeal and, with a heavy sprinkling of big name actors, ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ gets off to a promising start.ĭaniel Craig plays the strong, silent cowboy who wakes in the New Mexico desert with no memory and a chunky metal bracelet on his arm – the first clue to an impending alien invasion. ‘Iron Man’ director Jon Favreau’s latest actioner needs no introduction other than the title – and that’s one of the best things going for it.
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