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The narrative is clumsily dotted with flashback sequences of Lonergan’s fuzzy past. The momentum built up at the beginning drops into a second act lull as the plot takes its time to develop its thinly drawn characters. Favreau does his best to ground the story in some semblance of reality even after the outlandish introduction of space invaders. The film starts with a strong first act mimicking all the standard tropes of the Western with the taciturn hero and Mexican standoffs. Eventually they are all forced to team up with a tribe of Apaches and a band of ruthless outlaws in a final showdown with the extraterrestrials. Among their group include Doc, Dolarhyde’s Native American servant Nat Colorado (Adam Beach, the Sheriff’s grandson Emmett (Noah Ringer), the gruff reverend Meacham (Clancy Brown), and a mysterious woman named Ella (Olivia Wilde). Lonergan and Dolarhyde reluctantly form a posse to rescue their people and stave off the alien invasion. Lonergan discovers his bracelet is actually an advanced weapon capable of detecting the aliens and destroying their ships. Among those taken are Percy, Sheriff Taggart (Keith Carradine), and Doc’s wife Maria (Ana de la Reguera). The aliens have arrived on crab-like vessels destroying everything below and snatching up innocent people left and right. Just as the six-shooters are about to be drawn, mysterious lights flash in the sky. When the Colonel learns Percy and Lonergan have been arrested, he rides into Absolution with the intent of taking them both. Woodrow Dolarhyde (Ford), whose sniveling son, Percy (Paul Dano), has also arrived to drunkenly shoot up the place and bully the barkeep Doc (Sam Rockwell). The whole town lives in fear of local cattle baron, Col.
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After killing a trio of assailants, he makes his way to the small town of Absolution where we learn he is a wanted outlaw named Jake Lonergan. There’s also a bizarre bracelet attached to his wrist. “Cowboys & Aliens” opens with an unidentified man (Craig) awakening in the desert with no memory of who he is or where he came from.
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Credited screenwriters included Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman (“Transformers”), Damon Lindelof (“Lost,” “Star Trek”), Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby (also of “Iron Man”), and Steve Oedekerk (“Kung Pow: Enter the Fist”), who was attached to write and direct way back in 1997 when the studio was approaching the project with a more comedic take. Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, and Brian Grazer were among the producers. It had a talented director with a proven track record in Jon Favreau (“Iron Man”). It had two renowned leading men together for the first time in Daniel Craig and Harrison (James Bond and Indiana Jones!). Based loosely on a graphic novel published by Platinum Studios, “Cowboys & Aliens” had all the makings of a successful summer blockbuster. It should have been a cool mish-mash of Western and sci-fi genres, but, again, like “Snakes on a Plane” worked better as a joke on paper. Just like “Snakes on a Plane” had snakes on a plane, “Cowboys & Aliens” has cowboys and aliens. “Cowboys & Aliens” has one of those high-concept titles that tells you exactly what you’re going to get.