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Cowboys & Aliens a Bore

Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford can't quite save it

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 29, 2011 11:13 AM CDT

(Newser) – You’d think a movie called Cowboys and Aliens could at least hold your attention--but though the acting is good, there’s not much else to keep things interesting.

  • The film is “chockfull of elements from classic oaters—a posse, a dusty round-up, saloon stand-offs—as well as monster flick staples like abductions, experiments and explosions, and still nothing very exciting happens,” writes Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News.

  • Sure, “it looks slick, pricey and starry—Indiana Jones teams up with James Bond for a gunfight with space demons,” notes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. “But even Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig can't save a movie that's all concept, no content.”
  • Director Jon Favreau “wavers uncertainly between goofy pastiche and seriousness in a movie that wastes its title and misses the opportunity to play with, you know, ideas about the western and science-fiction horror,” observes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times.
  • But the Hollywood Reporter calls the movie a “solid success. For a tentpole Comic-Con movie, this one devotes a gratifying amount of time to character,” writes Kirk Honeycutt.

In this publicity image released by Universal Pictures, Daniel Craig is shown in a scene from Cowboys & Aliens.
In this publicity image released by Universal Pictures, Daniel Craig is shown in a scene from "Cowboys & Aliens."   (AP Photo/Universal Pictures, Timothy White)
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The movie's trailer.   (YouTube)

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 7 comments
YetAnotherCollegeKid
Jul 30, 2011 12:27 AM CDT
How... how do you fuck something like this up? All star cast, goofy name and premise, it should be camptastic fun for the whole family. A-list actors should look like they are having the time of their lives spitting out awful dialog, and there should be both intentional and unintentional humor freaking everywhere. And then everything should explode.  Just... how...
JoeQ
Jul 29, 2011 7:42 PM CDT
Critics are usually abysmally ignorant with science fiction.  The very name, "Cowboys and Aliens", merits a look.
baranoww
Jul 29, 2011 3:27 PM CDT
"Tentpole"? More like "Tadpole".

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