Cowboys and Aliens

Movie Name: Cowboys and Aliens

Year of Release: 2011

Director: Jon Favreau

Stars: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Clancy Brown, Adam Beach, Paul Dano, Chris Browning, Keith Carradine, Noah Ringer, Walton Goggins, Ana de la Reguera, Abigail Spencer, Brian Duffy

Genre: Action, Adventure, Western, Sci-Fi

Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4

Synopsis:

Director Jon Favreau follows the disappointing "Iron Man 2" with another big blockbuster, filled with special effects and big stars, this time Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. The film follows the story of Jake Lonergan, who wakes up in the middle of the desert, without any memory and with a strange device on his wrist. Jake tries to remember who he is, but gets chased by everyone due to a past he doesn't recollect. When he's about to be taken to respond for his past crimes, extra-terrestrial forces attack, destroying the small town and kidnapping people. Jake and his odd wrist-based device, manage to battle those creatures. In the end, it's up to Jake and the rest of the people in the town to go after the aliens and salvage the kidnapped people and save the world itself.
"Cowboys and Aliens" is based on a comic book by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and the screenplay has been written by a huge team comprised of writers of big blockbusters as "Transformers" and "Star Trek", to name but a few. Oddly enough, with this pedigree, the screenplay for "Cowboys and Aliens" touches all the cliches there are for a film that could have been quite surprising and different. Sadly as the film progresses, no sense of novelty is to be found - the film feels tired and unimaginative. The actors try their best to infuse some life to their characters, but there isn't much depth in any of these cardboard characters. Harrison Ford in particular deserved a better film where to shine his talent. A wasted opportunity for everyone involved.