Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

Combining western and sci-fi? Without Nathan Fillion? Sounds like a stretch...

A promising start has some action scenes, remembering that cowboys don't regularly use martial arts. Fists meet faces, some are happier and some are most dead. You do get am early and distinct general idea that they've been better at re-using story-parts than finding any of their own. Perhaps they felt that putting cowboys and aliens in the same movie was enough. Wrong they were.

This is further confirmed when two actors from Carnivale is recast with most of the traits they had in that show. Only Clancy Brown brings anything to the table (despite his lines), but then again, he is a mighty presence wherever he is. Keith Carradine is another modern western-man. Though better in Deadwood, he is decent here as well.

Pretty women always seem to be clean and waltz in straight from the hairdresser in westerns that don't really know what they are. That pisses me off to no end. Olivia Wilde's first dialogue is so bad it begs belief, and it never gets much better from there. Her lines are ridiculous and contains most of the many logical flaws. She doesn't improve either. A miscast of epic proportions. And I like her...

I'll give Harrison Ford a point for playing a genuinely evil man. Unfortunately he thinks sneering, barking and not shaving is all it takes. Besides, the character falls apart in a crappy translation scene anyway, with more shite on its way.

Thankfully, Daniel Craig is good, and the minor parts are mostly well cast.

As a western, it's bad. Unless you really like seeing poorer versions of scenes from earlier westerns. There is undoubtedly entertainment here, and lots of action, thus making you irritated at the lack of quality rather than bored. Which, I suppose when all comes down to it, is a good thing.

And the moral is that if we all work together we can overcome a lot. That sucks... But it fits this flick, as there is very little originality here. If you really like western combined with science fiction, the only real choice is to re-visit Joss Whedon's "Firefly".

4/10