Cowboys and Aliens

Cowboys and Aliens
Two of the best genres for telling stories that aren’t always related to their settings are westerns and sci-fi. Sci-fi tends towards political and social commentary while westerns tended more towards human drama, although there have been some that also broached social commentary. It makes perfect sense for these two genres to cross-pollinate and there have been some great examples in the past. Outland, with Sean Connery, and Blade Runner and Unforgiven have been cited as different versions of the same film. It was Joss Whedon’s post-Buffy series Firefly that really brought the possibilities of sci-fi western to reality, even though it was cancelled prematurely but went on to become a massive cult hit. Of course, Firefly was slightly different in that the frontier was outer space and not the Wild West.
Cowboys and Aliens
Cowboys and Aliens
, on the other hand, is pretty much a standard western from the outset, apart from the big metal bracelet on Daniel Craig’s wrist. There are outlaws, a despotic cattle baron (Harrison Ford) with a bully for a son (Paul Dano), the kindly doctor/preacher (Clancy Brown), the put-upon sheriff (Keith Carradine) and a barkeep with a nervous disposition (Sam Rockwell), as well as the obligatory mysterious stranger; although in this case there are two Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde.
Cowboys and Aliens
Craig’s Jake Lonergan wakes in the desert with no idea where or who he is, and quickly dispenses of them before wandering into the frontier town of Absolution that is effectively run by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). After a few barroom antics, Lonergan finds himself in trouble with the law until the town is attacked from the night skies and citizens are lassoed and whisked away. It’s not long before Lonergan discovers what the bracelet does and what is flying the craft, so Dolarhyde and Lonergan and a posse of townsfolk chase after a wounded creature in the hope of finding the people who were kidnapped.
Cowboys and Aliens
One of the problems with mixing genres is the risk of alienating (pun not intended) audiences from both sides. This was certainly true with UK indie film Franklyn, which failed to attract sci-fi/fantasy or urban drama aficionados. It also seems to have been the case with this film in the US, the home of the western. They seem to be quite happy to accept aliens arriving in the US from the 1950s onward, but encroaching on John Ford’s sacrosanct territory was verging on heresy, which is patently ridiculous. As already pointed out, this contains everything you want from a western in terms of characters, spectacular vistas and action, with Craig making as great a taciturn anti-hero as Clint at his best.
Cowboys and Aliens
What is harder to understand is why the sci-fi audiences didn’t embrace this more readily as they are usually more open to fresh approaches to the genre, unless westerns are too unfamiliar to today’s audiences that are happy to watch giant robots that can change into cars, or accept that a gang of south London estate kids can fight off an alien invasion. Whatever the reasons it is a shame for both audiences as they are missing a good romp. It’s not perfect and lacks some much needed humour from the occasional witty asides that we saw in Iron Man, although neither Craig nor Ford have the same charisma as Robert Downey Jr. However, it is still better than many of the blockbusters we’ve seen so far over the summer.

Really, as far as we’re concerned, what’s not to like? It’s got cowboys, indians, outlaws and aliens, with plenty of action and even a little romance.There’s something for everyone.

Cowboys and Aliens is in cinemas now in glorious 2D.

Around the web