Review of Cowboys & Aliens

"I want that man! You give him to me now, or I'm gonna take him!" Plot: A man wakes up in the middle of the desert with a strange bracelet on his arm and no memory of who he is or what has landed him in this place. He makes his way to a nearby town where he learns he is a wanted man. Not long after, strange flying machines attack the town and begin to snatch up people left and right. After all of it is over the man, who's name is Jake teams up with a wealthy Civil War vet who's son was taken and a mysterious girl who believes she and Jake can help each other. With a gang of rag tag villagers and criminals, they set out to rescue the missing townspeople and uncover Jake's past. I can't, for the life of me understand why director Jon Favreau(Iron Man 1 & 2, Elf), or any other sane person for that matter would choose to commit to such a terrible script. I have really enjoyed Favreau's other work until now. It also amazes me that Ron Howard and Steven Spielberg were actually involved in this as well. You'd think with their talent, they would have stepped in and gotten a better screenwriter to rewrite it. Writer Roberto Orci who also wrote last year's disastrous Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, is back at it again and this time doing even worse. There's no doubt in my mind that he'll win the Razzie award for worst screenplay for the second time in a row. The plot never really takes off and just lumbers along for the entire two hour run time, not to mention the laugh out loud terrible twist. Every Western and Sci-fi cliché in the book is in here somewhere. I didn't care for any of the cardboard characters. There were many times when I either shook my head or laughed at how horrible it was. Terrible writing aside, the acting isn't much better. It is painful to watch Harrison Ford, my childhood hero, mumble awful dialogue throughout the entire movie. I ask you Mr. Ford, where are my heroes? Where is the Indiana Jones and Han Solo who I looked up to? Where?! Another person I was disappointed in was Sam Rockwell. I loved him in Moon and Iron Man 2, but all he does in this is shoot off unfunny one liners. Paul Dano, who has a lot of talent wastes it here by playing an unconvincing spoiled brat. And lastly Noah Ringer. I have heard he was terrible in The Last Airbender and I assume he's no better in this. He's just annoying. The entire time I kept thinking; "Oh please just go back to the town so we don't have to hear your whining." OK but awful stuff aside, this movie isn't a complete failure. I didn't find Daniel Craig's acting to be that good nor bad. He was just OK. I have never enjoyed action movies that much but I was impressed with all of the thrilling and exciting action sequences, even if most of them are downright cheesy. Add the always beautiful Olivia Wilde to the mix and at least you have something to look at. I was also impressed with the aliens even though after the first time we see them, they aren't very frightening. They look like a cross between the Super 8 monster, the Kraken from the remake of Clash of the Titans, and a fish. But all in all, if you're just going to see it for the action, you may have a good time, but if you pay attention to the writing whatsoever, then you'll absolutely hate it. This isn't the worst movie of the year(Battle: Los Angeles takes that spot), but it's definitely in my top five. Extremely disappointing. Total Score: 3.5/10