THE MILD WEST: a review of "Cowboys & Aliens"

“COWBOYS & ALIENS”
Based upon the graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg
Screen Story by Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby and Steve Odekerk
Screenplay Written by Robert Orci & Alex Kurtzman & Damon Lindelof and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby
Directed by Jon Favreau
** (two stars)

I knew it had to happen but I wished that it hadn’t occurred with this one.

Yes, dear readers, my Summer 2011 cinematic winning streak has reached its end. From the month of May until this afternoon, I have been so undoubtedly pleased and at times, enraptured with the art and artistry of the movies I have had the good fortune to see. Especially within genres that have run their risk of over-saturation (superheroes and comic book films) and others genres that feel creatively brain dead (the modern day romantic comedy), I have been surprised again and again with the level of creativity, thoughtfulness, strong performances and even stronger, unpredictable screenwriting that has taken place. As I walked into a screening of Director Jon Favreau’s western/science fiction mash-up “Cowboys & Aliens,” I was extremely hopeful for an experience that would grandly continue the level of surprise that I have been so thankful to receive this summer on my movie screens. Unfortunately, beyond the brilliant and genre altering title, “Cowboys & Aliens” is a by-the-numbers, MOR, pedestrian affair and in a summer of one terrific film surprise after another, this was a surprise that made for a film that was not terrible but hugely disappointing as the potential for greatness was so present.

Daniel Craig stars as outlaw Jake Lonergan, who suddenly awakens on the ground of the wide open spaces of 1873 Arizona completely disoriented, his memory hazy to the point where he cannot remembers his own name and most strangely, a metallic foreign object is latched to his wrist and impossible to remove. After murdering three strangers who threaten him, Lonergan quietly arrives in the town of Absolution and is soon befriended by the town preacher (Clancy Brown), the town medic/bar owner (Sam Rockwell) as well as the loveliest lady in town, the gun carrying Ella (Olivia Wilde), who continuously probes Lonergan to remember his past.

Lonergan quickly makes his presence in the town fully known as he publicly humiliates Percy Dolarhyde (Paul Dano), the drunken and abusive son of the tyrannical town overlord Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford). Lonergan’s actions and soon to be discovered true identity also alerts the attention of Sheriff John Taggart (Keith Carradine), who is ready to have this mysterious outsider arrested. Just as the paths of Lonergan, Taggart and the infamous and furious Colonel Dolarhyde converge, the shackled object on Lonergan’s wrist begins to light and strange bright lights in the skies suddenly appear and begin to lay Absolution to waste while capturing several of the townspeople in the process. After the battle with what the townsfolk soon call “demons,” it is up to Lonergan and Dolarhyde to join forces and form a posse consisting of a rag tag group including a band of outlaws and a tribe of Apache Indians, to set out and rescue their friends and families and make a climactic stand against the aliens.

Let me first announce that despite my negative reaction, “Cowboys & Aliens” does not resemble a bad movie in any way. There is much to admire and I really feel that it is a testament to how much Jon Favreau has grown as a filmmaker over the years. His ability to work with such a wide canvas and a mountain of special effects does not seem to intimidate him in the least. The film also earns major points by being exceedingly well cast and the cinematography is gorgeously presented. The fight scenes and battle sequences are handsomely staged and well choreographed. The special effects are flawless and somehow feel so conceptually in tune with the western locale. Favreau handles all of the genre standards of western and science fiction films easily, with great heft and style and not allowing anyone, at any time to ironically wink at the audience thus blowing this very unusual fantasy into the winds.

I also give Favreau kudos for the film terrific first third, which sets up the story and subsequent confrontation brilliantly. This is especially remarkable considering that we have essentially seen a truncated version of that first third within the film’s trailer and television advertisements. I was immediately hooked with the sight of Jake Lonergan awakening suddenly on the wide prairie and Favreau’s re-creation of the wild west, with all of its colorful characters and a familiar genre trappings (I will always love the way a saloon clears itself of patrons when a bar shootout looms dangerously) was lovingly presented. The initial handling of Harrison Ford’s character of Dolarhyde was especially terrific as we hear of the great menace of this man long before we see him. When he appears, it does not disappoint as Ford growls his lines with such petulant authority that he fully lives up to his character’s sinister reputation. And yes, that first alien attack is sensationally staged and executed with its swirling lights, terrified mass confusion and the horrific sight of town inhabitants being violently snatched from horseback into the night skies.

After the first alien attack and series of abductions, “Cowboys & Aliens” sadly begins to spin its wheels and as the film ventured onwards, I gradually lost interest. That spark of creativity seemed to be snuffed out as character quirks and traits telegraph third act payoffs with the subtlety of neon signs. A mid–film plot twist should come as a surprise to absolutely no one in the audience. Finally, the epic battle sequences play out exactly as you think they will, with all of the pre-requisite peaks and valleys. It reminded me a bit of the last third of James Cameron’s “Avatar” (2009) with its nearly one hour war sequence that felt so interminable due to its wearying predictable-ness.

“Cowboys & Aliens” unfortunately suffers that same fate during the section that should be the most roof raising. There is just no exhilaration or terror to the sight of cowboys and aliens at war, in and of itself. Just the standard set of seamless but soulless CGI special effects and booming sound system that has become a staple of summer movies. For all of the film’s sound and fury, I just didn’t care a whit about what happened to any of these people and I am certain that was not the desired effect Jon Favreau wanted to obtain.

I think the main problem lies inside of the screenplay. The actual plot of the film is appropriately simple. Good guys form a posse to defeat the aliens who kidnapped their loved ones. That is all of the story you really need for a film like this one. But in order to really make it pop off of the screen and make it a real pulse pounder is to flesh out the characters so that they live and breathe as more than archetypal figurines ready to be blasted into kingdom come by those nasty aliens. Every single character in the film, like the actual story itself, is given a terrific set-up in the film’s first third and then, they just sit there. It was as if the screenwriters felt that the set up was more than enough and trust me, dear readers, it wasn’t. “Cowboys & Aliens” grew creatively stagnant when it should have flown into conceptual interstellar overdrive.

And how about those screenwriters anyway? The fact that “Cowboys & Aliens” held not one or two but five screenwriters is a sure sign of trouble. While they surprisingly kept a consistency to the material, what was even more surprising was what else they accomplished: they completely drained the film of anything that could have been as original and outside of the box as the film’s title. Characters are less than paper-thin and I think it is of tremendously good fortune that with Favreau’s cache, he could command a cast as luxurious as the one he received. Aside from Craig and Ford, I was absolutely thrilled to see the sights of Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano, Clancy Brown and Keith Carradine. And while they all flesh out their roles as best as they are able, there’s just not much to them at all and remember, there ‘s only so much they can do if it just ain’t on the page. I remember feeling the same with no less than Steven Spielberg’s exciting but emotionally empty “Jurassic Park” (1993), where the sights and sounds were peerless but I didn’t care as the characters themselves never held any interest.

Furthermore, the film makes the gargantuan mistake of not having Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford share more than a few scant scenes together!!!! While they certainly did not have to be joined at the hip, I had wished the two of them could have been featured together than much more they were and for some reason that I cannot place my thumb upon, I just felt the film suffered as a whole. Excitement began to rise whenever they appeared together and that palpable excitement faded when they were separated. But again, I think it all goes back to the screenplay.

If any of you have happened to see Director Michael Mann’s crime drama masterpiece “Heat” (1995), you may gather an understanding of what I am writing to you about. That film starred Robert DeNiro as a criminal and Al Pacino as the detective trying to take him down and in that entire film, I believe these two acting titans share one scene, set in the middle of the film. It is a simple scene set in a restaurant and consists of the two men simply talking to each other. No pyrotechnics other than witnessing their immense and legendary acting talents in motion. Anyhow, that scene and the film as a whole would not have worked if their characters were not written as fully realized, three-dimensional human beings. So, by the time the men sit down together, we know everything about them and that knowledge informs every line of dialogue, every moment of body language as well as setting up the film’s second half and climax.

“Heat” transcended the overly familiar crime genre clichés through its adherence to character development and it is that very character development that was sorely lacking in “Cowboys & Aliens.” It felt as if the studio heads thought that it would be really cool to get Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in a movie together (it is) but didn’t bother to really give them something to sink their chops into. The character of Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde was especially disappointing especially as, again, the set up was so masterful and Ford was easily up to the task. Nothing in the film after that first third capitalized upon his fearsome legend and it all felt to be a tremendously missed opportunity.

In the end, that’s what “Cowboys & Aliens” felt like: a missed opportunity of huge proportions. If you are going to have a film with this title, then I think the filmmakers owed it to themselves to truly go for it and make something that could shake up both of their respective genres and emerge as the type of film that proudly stands alone in the cineplexes as a unique experience unlike anything else you could possibly see. While not for lack of trying, as well as all of the skill and talent at work and play, “Cowboys & Aliens” is ultimately the type of movie-going experience we have seen time and time again. For many viewers it may deliver exactly what they want.

But for me, I wanted more and I wanted it to be better.