'Cowboys & Aliens'

'Cowboys & Aliens' (PG-13)  (3 stars)

Writers: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus and Hawk Otsby
Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Paul Dano, Sam Rockwell, Keith Carradine,
Adam Beach, Noah Ringer, Clancy Brown

"Cowboys & Aliens" could have been such a messy and campy disaster but it is better than it should be. Many people laughed at the trailer for this movie and it is such a strange hybrid of movie genres. "Cowboys & Aliens" is actually a lot of fun, doesn't become too goofy and has a lot of great action scenes. Part of the credit should go to Jon Favreau's exciting and steady, serious directing and the straight faced and solid acting by Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and the rest of the great cast.

"Cowboys & Aliens" starts off as a straight Western and if there were no aliens in the movie this probably would stand alone as a solid Western. Jake Lonergan, played by Daniel Craig, is found alone in the desert with a strange metallic contraption on his wrist and no recollection of how he got there. He is found by some townsfolk and taken to town where he meets up with various types including a doctor, a saloon owner, a sheriff and a very beautiful woman. Now the aliens come to attack and the loner has to team up with a Civil War veteran named Col. Dolahyde  and his wild, crooked son.

When the aliens attack for the first time all the townsfolk team up with Lonergan, Dollarhyde and the beautiful woman to fight off the attacks. When the aliens do attack the movie reminded me of the 1986 movie "Aliens" which is the best of it's kind. The aliens swoop down in spaceships and snatch people out of thin air with what looks like cables. I was happy to see that these abductions didn't look cheesy and that the aliens are really effectively scary! Daniel Craig is becoming a very solid action star with his steely blue eyes and Harrison Ford has a lot of fun. Also new emerging star Olivia Wilde is becoming a hot commodity. She has the most beautiful and piercing eyes which are hypnotic and I couldn't stop looking into them, I almost fell in a trance.

I also loved how the Indians, who are usually bad and fighting the cowboys, join them instead to both fend off the alien attacks. With "Ironman" and now this movie Jon Favreau proves he can direct great action, maybe he can teach Michael Bay how to direct. The cast is wonderful including the legendary Keith Carradine who was born to be in a Western and the great Sam Rockwell. I had fun and my eyes were glued to the screen with all the solid action and alien attacks. I was never bored and I was impressed by how the filmmakers admirably blend the Western and an Alien movie and don't shoot themselves in the foot.