Close Encounters of the Absurd Kind

So prior to my attendance of Batman Live, I went to see Cowboys and Aliens (because I was determined to have the busiest day ever).

Daniel Craig wakes up in the middle of the Wild West desert with no memory and a weird device strapped to his wrist. He makes his way into town and soon crosses paths with Harrison Ford, who plays a grizzled war-veteran-turned-rancher. Just as tensions between the two of them are about to come to a violent head, mysterious lights appear in the sky and alien ships begin attacking and abducting the band of cowboys and prospectors. With no way to comprehend what the aliens are, the townsfolk’s first thought is that they’re being besieged by demons, and set off to try and rescue their kidnapped family members…

Maybe it was because I’d heard all of the negative reviews and so I went in with really low expectations, but I didn’t think it was anywhere near as bad as the critics are making out.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not anything special. There are some great supporting turns by Clancy Brown, Sam Rockwell and Paul Dano, all of whom could have done with being in the film more. Olivia Wilde is fairly bland as the love interest, and Daniel Craig is charismatic enough as the action hero. Whilst I’m not a huge fan of him as Bond, when he’s not being 007 I’m reminded that he is actually a strong actor. Let’s not forget Layer Cake, which is hugely underrated.

But then there’s Harrison Ford.

Grumpy, miserable Harrison Ford.

I’m not even sure if he’s acting in the film, because in all of the promotional publicity for the film he seems just as grumpy and miserable as his character does on screen. What’s he got to be so miserable about? He was Han Solo and Indiana Jones. He’s an icon. To an entire generation he is their childhood. I mean, true Hollywood Homicide was one of the worst films of the noughties, and true, I’ve almost entirely wiped the last Indiana Jones film from my memory because it’s such a travesty, but still. He’s Harrison freaking Ford! Cheer up. It’s depressing to see someone you idolised as a kid slowly become the Victor Meldrew of Hollywood. Anyway, protestations aside, Ford’s grumpiness works for the role.

The aliens aren’t that scary and some of the action scenes could have done with being a bit more action packed. The film actually works better for the first thirty or forty minutes when they’re playing it as a straight Western, and I can’t help but feel that if they had given it a different title and kept the aliens a secret, they could have had a twist as pleasantly surprising as the one in From Dusk ‘til Dawn. But let’s face it, with a studio film like this, that was never going to happen.

Overall a fun yet somewhat hollow watch, which would be perfect for a family viewing on a Sunday afternoon.