Cowboys and Aliens

was exactly what the title and the trailer promised. I was excited by both, so I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. If the sheer silliness of either one turned you off, you will probably hate the film.

The basic formula for this movie seems to have been simple: do every basic western cliche, then add aliens. So, we have the bad man whose love for a woman redeemed him, the man who owns a town, his useless son, the well-meaning but scared sheriff, the bookish doctor who grows a spine, the young boy who has to grow up, the gang with members both tough and goofy--you get the idea. Then we add the aliens, who are equal parts Aliens and Predators, but nowhere near as badass as either one. Stir with a little unrequited romance, season with kick-ass leads (Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde each do everything you could ask of them), toss in a mystery third force, sprinkle with tons of explosions and dead bodies flying right and left, and you have a film.

A pretty damn fun one, though as you can tell, not one that can handle (or requires) intellectual scrutiny.

As I said at the beginning, for most people it will be easy to tell if you'll enjoy Cowboys and Aliens. I did.