Along came Cowboys and Aliens.
Perfect.
And yet...not so perfect.
I can get onboard for a movie about aliens coming to Earth in the late 1800's. Of course.
If I enjoy the Matrix, or StarGate, or any other sci-fi reality, then of course the aliens could have come to the Old West.
A premise that could have worked.
If only the story hadn't had all the typical characters and conflicts:
mysterious stranger with strange power,
beautiful damsel,
villainous cattle baron running the town and his spoiled dangerous son,
mostly peaceful sheriff taking care of his deceased daughter's brave but impressionable son,
tortured memories of the Civil War,
prejudice against Native Americans,
a band of robbers,
and big slimy monsters as aliens.
Blah. I don't even need to tell you the story for you to guess what happened.
The only relationship I cared about was the one between the villainous cattle baron and a young Mexican man who worked for him, tirelessly and loyally. The cattle baron treated him badly, but the Mexican man loved and respected him as a father. Which, of course, was more than the cattle baron's real son. And, it was the young man I was interested in - not the villainous cattle baron.
The aliens use their tiny ships (launched from their big ship) to hunt people. They lasso the people from the air. Those stunts were good; kinda cool. Reminiscent of a cattle roundup.
That connection (cattle roundup vs aliens taking humans), and others (alien power and mysterious stranger, for instance) might have made a more complex and interesting story.
It makes me think the original story either had much more complexity, or wanted to, but didn't know how to make it happen.
And then a committee devoured the story.
Bottom line: The movie is empty and predictable. I don't recommend it.
See also, Roger Ebert's review of Cowboys and Monsters
No comments:
Post a Comment