Cowboys And Aliens Post-Release - Page 2

I agree with two things people have pointed out about this movie so far. The first is that the motivation for the main characters' "quest" is tenuous and underdeveloped. The second is that certain events, like Olivia Wilde's twist, happen with little provocation and aren't integrated that well into the overall story. Other than these points, I kind of loved this movie. It's a real "monsters from the id" movie in the classic sense.

 

I posted a review of some of my reasons for liking it so damn much in another thread in the Reader Reviews section if anyone cares to read it -- I posted it here and it looked far too long, so I think it would be better if I isolated such heavy analysis elsewhere. Anyway I think the critics are really, really wrong about this one. It's a highlight of the summer for me.

I also disagree with Renn...I thought the ships were kind of cool looking and their movements were ace.  He's spot on about the things that matter though.

 

A good amount of snickering at parts of the movie I don't think were meant to be funny.  The entire big battle just made no sense to me.  Right before the fight starts what do we learn?  The aliens don't expect an attack so won't be ready to retaliate, and the aliens can't see well in the sunlight.  The heroes set off dynamite and alien guns are immediately manned in the mothership and a shitload of aliens are out and rushing them instantly.  None of them had sunglasses on that I could see, and none of them had a bit of trouble ripping the shit out of redshirts.

 

Bullets are bouncing off of aliens, arrows are sticking in them and not even slowing them down until the aliens make a crucial mistake...they kill the guy that's friends with Harrison Ford which makes everybody else so angry that they begin to shoot their arrows harder, throw their spears harder, and by god they shoot their guns harder because suddenly the aliens are just getting destroyed.

Saw the midnight show on thursday, and my friend and I got there about 30 minutes before it started with no lines and the theater half full.

 

I liked it, but I agree with everyone saying that the script is underdeveloped. For a 2 hour movie, we don't get simple exposition like where was Olivia Wilde's character from? How long had she been there? How was she able to shapeshift? Why exactly do the aliens want the gold?

 

We see the gold being melted down, and flowing up into some sort of device. Does that mean it powers their vessel?

 

That said, the actors did a good job, Ford gives a shit, Clancy Brown is sadly wasted, but what screen time he has, he makes the most of. He also got one of the biggest laughs from the audience when he was showing Sam Rockwell how to shoot and said "Don't yank on it like it's your pecker." If anybody was really underused, it's Keith Carradine. The man just has a handful of scenes, and should have been a part of the search group. He needs more exposure!

 

What I really loved is that it really is more of a western with sci-fi elements, than a sci-fi movie that happens to take place in the 1800's. That was a wise decision.

The entire final battle/act was very badly handled. No tension, no sense, and no emotional stakes for us. It was shot well - I was able to follow what happened just fine - but there was no reason to care.

 

Disposable film, but fun while watching it.  It's certainly the most I've liked Ford in well over a decade. 

 

The Olivia Wilde reveal is completely telegraphed in the trailers.  It's dopey, but it didn't kill the film for me. 

 

What rhymes with tired & shit? COWBOYS & ALIENS.

 

Go see ATTACK THE BLOCK instead. You'll be glad you did.

This whole movie is like so much of this summer. All the elements are there. But it's not cooked. No one involved with the film has any real wit, so it's all just things that would be good, if they were done well. Or well done.

This movie was boring as hell.  Damon's description is dead-on.  Everything's there, but it never comes together.  It's beautifully photographed, but that's the only kind thing that I can say about it.  

 

Harrison's voice is hilarious in this.  I haven't giggled so much at a voice in a film since Bale's gutteral Batman sounds.

Cowboys and Aliens certainly passed the time. Like Shooter, or maybe Surrogates.

Glad I saw it; equally glad I waited to absorb the first-week buzz, so I went with lowered expectations. A bunch of very entertaining actors playing cowboy was fun. Everything involving the aliens, and/or the main plot, was tedious. Craig and Ford both had some badass moments, and I was very glad that Boyd Crowder lived to tell the tale.

I know I'm president of the last-to-know club, but damn.  Watching this flick made me fearful that a day was coming soon that all the storytellers would be gone and we'd be left with only hack writers and directors.  Great cast, beautiful locations, great effects, but just ruinous writing and directing.  It reminded me of that time in the '90s when so many high concept thrillers were getting churned out, they just had automatic plot developments that happened in exactly the same place in every movie.  Just abysmal. 

Late to the party and pretty much agree with those who were disappointed. I dug the way it was shot and Favs finds some neat action beats within all the "safe-for-PG13" violence, but the movie is considerably boring and bored with its characters. Dano appears and disappears without much interest or effect. Wilde's arc is to reveal herself as an exposition device, and Lonergan's arc is so uninvolving that when he finally frees his girl, no emotional beats are played. Same goes for when he manages to bring his old gang to the aliens' ship.

Watched this over the weekend, the film had me for awhile, but like Pop said, it's just long and boring. Kind of like how Green Lantern played out for me. Too much bloat.

Bingo. Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are like a writing cancer upon Hollywood.  Their movies make a lot of money due to the subject matter, not for the story.  These guys took the sequel to the Mask of Zorro, a film that I LOVED, and just ruined it.  Transformers was pretty good, better then I expected as for Trek, well, the cast saved that film.  The fact that they are touching the Enders Game film as me filled with fear.

I know, when I heard there was a sequel I was all about it. Then I heard it was PG....then I saw the kid.
 

 

My same reaction.  I just dislike kids in films, always have.  They are written in a manner that does not take them serious, they show up to save the day and are just all around annoying.

And I believe the characters are also divorced in the film which just feels so off.

Been catching up on alot of movies I missed in the theater and this is the latest.

 

Not good, not terrible, just incredibly bleh.  Fails as a western, fails as a sci-fi flick...all the elements are cooking, but they forgot to add seasoning or something.

 

I'm a bit worried for Jon Favs as this thing bombed pretty fucking badly.  His next two projects are both TV movies...one is an NBC pilot produced by JarJar Abrahms, and not sure about the other.  Did this set Favs back that hard?  Christ.  I hope he can bounce back.  I know TV is becoming more legit, but to go from high concept big budget studio flicks to TV pilots is a bit worrying to me.  Maybe he should've stuck around for Iron Man 3...didn't he piss off Marvel or something?

Maybe, but a pilot for JJ as just a side gig inbetween gigs is not something to shrug at dude.  As TV directing gigs go I'd say that's actually the pinnacle. 

As long as it's a side gig, I don't care.  I was just worried he was in director jail or something, while Len Wiseman and Paul WS Anderson continue to terrorize the countryside.

Got around to seeing this recently. It was OK up until Quora pulls the Phoenix Trick, then it slid right into the shitter. The main problem aside from poor pacing, poor plot and useless subplots is the lack of a villain. A Western needs a Bad Guy, not faceless naked retarded aliens.

 

I will give this film one thing: it includes one of the all time best Harrison Ford quotes:

 

Told that the aliens are there to mine Gold, Ford snarls "Well that's just ridiculous! What are they gonna do with it, buy something?!" Ford's delivery had me laughing my ass off for 5-10 minutes.

Edited by Cylon Baby - 4/11/12 at 1:32pm

When you direct a pilot, don't you get an exec. producer cred if it goes to series? Maybe Favs is just trying to pad his kids' college funds.

The Magic Kingdom movie is supposed to be huge, and it seems to be something Favreau is really excited about, so that's good. But then, when your last two movies are Iron Man 2 and this terrible goddamn movie, its hard to get too excited. I'll casually root for him to get out of this slump, I suppose.

Cowboys and Aliens sure was boring. Last April, I would not have predicted this sucking so badly.

He also directed Elf and Iron Man I, so I wouldn't count Favs out for Magic Kingdom.