This movie was just AWESOME.
I saw Cowboys & Aliens.
Here are a few things before I go into spoilers and have to do an LJ cut:
1) Daniel Craig's American accent is spot on. And there are several moments where he looks and acts so much like Steve McQueen that it's a little spooky.
2) Harrison Ford's smirk. I've missed it.
3) This is the best movie I've seen all year.
4) It's written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman-those guys write awesome stuff. *points at Star Trek.*
5) Two words: SAM ROCKWELL
6) Two more words: WALTON GOGGINS
7) Damn, I have missed Westerns.
8) THIS IS THE BEST MOVIE I HAVE SEEN ALL YEAR. How? I usually remember what trailers I saw once the movie ends. This time? Nothing. Not until I was going through featurettes on Trailer Addict and saw some vaguely familiar posters listed.
I love Westerns. I grew up watching John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Clint Eastwood, and Chuck Connors. And I've really missed seeing them-at least, ones that aren't remakes of movies I already liked the way they were (though 3:10 To Yuma is an exception as Ben Foster makes for a creepier, more dangerous villain). I know it's based off a comic, but this movie really stands out on its own as something unique and amazing because we haven't seen anything like it-not really.
I liked how it opens. It just drops you into Daniel Craig's confusion and loss of memory much like Predators (which I liked) dropped us into the movie with a frickin' free-fall.
There were little details touched on that really made it even weirder that he was plopped out in the middle of the desert. In the dirt next to his right hand was tintype photo of a woman, but he couldn't recall who she was. He was shoeless, he had a weird metal bracer on his left arm that (if you looked for it) chipped the rock he used to try and break it off, the pant leg on above his right knee was torn, and his undershirt (the only one he wore) was stuck to his side on a bloody wound.
The first thing that happens to him is he's surrounded by three idjits who aim to do something awful to him. He beats the shit out of all of them (holy hell, it was fast), steals some clothes (boots that are way too big for him), steals a gun and a horse, and heads towards the town they were riding to. Absolution.
Out of all the stuff he steals, the most important one is the hat.
The dog that was following them decides he's better than the morons he was with before and starts after him.
I'd like to pause here to make an observation about horseback riding in Hollywood. Not many people can actually do it correctly and I was waiting to see how Daniel would do. He eased the horse into a gallop and was actually posting. The man can ride.
That was the first instance of "holy shit, he looks just like Steve McQueen."
The character names were really cool. Just look at the name of Harrison Ford's character: Woodrow Dolarhyde (who named his son "Percy"). I'm getting ahead of myself. First, Jake (Daniel Craig's character-who still doesn't know who he is) ditches the horse at the stables and sneaks into what looks like an empty home to clean up. He finishes washing his face and starts peeling his shirt and vest off his wound when the owner of the home points a rifle at the back of his head.
Daniel Craig has a really good American accent. He sounded like he'd been speaking with a slight Southern drawl his entire life.
That was the preacher. He's kind enough to stitch him up and we're back outside where Sam Rockwell's character, Doc (a bartender AND a doctor) is getting taunted by Percy. The kid is a huge asshole and when Jake, leaning against a porch awning (second instance of "holy shit, he looks just like Steve McQueen"), draws his attention away from Doc he's warned. We've already seen Jake take down three big guys at once and this kid is nothing. All Draco Malfoy-you know? "Wait until my father hears about this" and such.
Let's shorten this to "how Jake ends up in that paddy wagon in the trailer."
Percy accidentally shoots a deputy in the arm, Jake knees him in the balls and walks over to the saloon for a drink.
While he's drinking an entire bottle of "on-the-house-for-saving-my-husband's-ass" whiskey and trying to ignore Olivia Wilde's character, Ella Swenson, the sheriff (KEITH CARRADINE!) spots a wanted poster in the office while he's locking up Percy. It's Daniel Craig's face with "WANTED Jake Lonergan" for theft, armed robbery, arson, and (we later learn) murder.
So they bring him in. After another fight that Ella ends by pistol whipping Jake in the back of the head. There's dream stuff of things he can't quite remember. I'm sitting there wondering how bad a headache he's got from having a heavy object slammed into his skull. He wakes up on a cot in a cell getting spit on by Percy who is still going on and on about how his father is going to straight up murder him for blah blah blah. There's a little moment where it looks like Jake might actually throw up and I flipped out a little because they addressed the issue of "he probably has a concussion now." Percy keeps talking, so Jake just reaches through the bars, grabs Percy's collar, and slams his head against the cell bars to knock him out.*
Honest to God, my brain played the scene in Joe Kidd where Clint Eastwood, tired of his cell mate's shit, throws a pot of hot beans in the guy's face to get him to shut his trap.
Percy is suitably scared of Jake after that.
By the way, between all of this happening, two of Woodrow Dolarhyde's cattle wranglers and about thirty head of cattle get vaporized and the only guy who survives was about to take a dump in the river at the time. He's got the guy strung up between two horses and is questioning the idjit when Nat Colorado (Adam Beach) rides in from town to tell him Percy's in the clink. I didn't think it was possible for Harrison Ford to scowl even harder, but there it was. Though, when Nat mentions Jake Lonergan being in custody as well, we get the patented Harrison Ford Smirk™ because Jake stole gold from him and-look at that-he can still ride a horse.
Jake and Percy and shackled together (Percy freaking out the entire time about not wanting to be stuck with the crazy guy) in the back of a paddy wagon to be taken to the nearest Marshal's office, Woodrow and Sheriff Taggart have Words, Ella tries to talk to Jake again, and then everything just stops for a moment.
There are lights moving toward town and it's strange enough to get everybody out into the street to see them (I had a Close Encounters of a Third Kind flashback). Jake's wrist thing starts blinking and opens up. He aims it at Percy and we see a holograph of Percy's head in the "crosshairs." Through the back door of the paddy wagon, he picks up three moving signatures in the sky. The lights disappear and then all hell breaks loose.
Ships start doing fly-bys and roping people off the ground, other ships just blow shit up. The paddy wagon ends up separated from the horses, Jake breaks Percy's hand so he isn't shackled to the idjit anymore, and after a moment of wondering about it he just blows the damn doors off the back of the wagon.
In all this, he's lost his hat.
Like Indiana Jones, things are on hold in his head for a moment as he finds it and drops it on his head.
Doc's wife is taken, Sheriff Taggart is taken (leaving his grandson-who Ella grabs and hauls to safety), Percy is taken mid-sentence with his father, and guns aren't working on these ship things. So, on a hunch, Jake aims his wrist at the last ship and blows it up.
An injured alien escapes the wreckage, and the chase to find the abducted townsfolk begins. You'll have to watch the movie to find out the rest. So many things happen in this movie.
Since tomorrow is Sunday… There were two moments that really stuck with me from the preacher. Telling Jake that "God don't care about what you did, he cares about what you do/," "It's not God's plan, it's your own. You just gotta remember what it was," and telling Doc that "you don't expect God to do everything for you, do you?" I mean, that's not something you hear in movies nowadays.
There was another piece of advice he gave Doc when he was teaching him how to shoot… I laughed a little too loud when he said it.
"Don't yank it-it ain't your pecker. Squeeze the trigger."
So the action is incredible, the acting is great, the characters are memorable, the plot is unique, there are some hilarious lines, the attention to detail is fantastic, the aliens are less "CG" and more "flipping creepy," and it had my dad literally on the edge of his seat almost the entire time. I loved it. I want to see it again. I am willing to risk an entire afternoon of knee pain just to watch it again in the theater.
Jon Favreau can direct the hell out of a movie.
*I had to make a gif of this scene.
Here are a few things before I go into spoilers and have to do an LJ cut:
1) Daniel Craig's American accent is spot on. And there are several moments where he looks and acts so much like Steve McQueen that it's a little spooky.
2) Harrison Ford's smirk. I've missed it.
3) This is the best movie I've seen all year.
4) It's written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman-those guys write awesome stuff. *points at Star Trek.*
5) Two words: SAM ROCKWELL
6) Two more words: WALTON GOGGINS
7) Damn, I have missed Westerns.
8) THIS IS THE BEST MOVIE I HAVE SEEN ALL YEAR. How? I usually remember what trailers I saw once the movie ends. This time? Nothing. Not until I was going through featurettes on Trailer Addict and saw some vaguely familiar posters listed.
I love Westerns. I grew up watching John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Clint Eastwood, and Chuck Connors. And I've really missed seeing them-at least, ones that aren't remakes of movies I already liked the way they were (though 3:10 To Yuma is an exception as Ben Foster makes for a creepier, more dangerous villain). I know it's based off a comic, but this movie really stands out on its own as something unique and amazing because we haven't seen anything like it-not really.
I liked how it opens. It just drops you into Daniel Craig's confusion and loss of memory much like Predators (which I liked) dropped us into the movie with a frickin' free-fall.
There were little details touched on that really made it even weirder that he was plopped out in the middle of the desert. In the dirt next to his right hand was tintype photo of a woman, but he couldn't recall who she was. He was shoeless, he had a weird metal bracer on his left arm that (if you looked for it) chipped the rock he used to try and break it off, the pant leg on above his right knee was torn, and his undershirt (the only one he wore) was stuck to his side on a bloody wound.
The first thing that happens to him is he's surrounded by three idjits who aim to do something awful to him. He beats the shit out of all of them (holy hell, it was fast), steals some clothes (boots that are way too big for him), steals a gun and a horse, and heads towards the town they were riding to. Absolution.
Out of all the stuff he steals, the most important one is the hat.
The dog that was following them decides he's better than the morons he was with before and starts after him.
I'd like to pause here to make an observation about horseback riding in Hollywood. Not many people can actually do it correctly and I was waiting to see how Daniel would do. He eased the horse into a gallop and was actually posting. The man can ride.
That was the first instance of "holy shit, he looks just like Steve McQueen."
The character names were really cool. Just look at the name of Harrison Ford's character: Woodrow Dolarhyde (who named his son "Percy"). I'm getting ahead of myself. First, Jake (Daniel Craig's character-who still doesn't know who he is) ditches the horse at the stables and sneaks into what looks like an empty home to clean up. He finishes washing his face and starts peeling his shirt and vest off his wound when the owner of the home points a rifle at the back of his head.
Daniel Craig has a really good American accent. He sounded like he'd been speaking with a slight Southern drawl his entire life.
That was the preacher. He's kind enough to stitch him up and we're back outside where Sam Rockwell's character, Doc (a bartender AND a doctor) is getting taunted by Percy. The kid is a huge asshole and when Jake, leaning against a porch awning (second instance of "holy shit, he looks just like Steve McQueen"), draws his attention away from Doc he's warned. We've already seen Jake take down three big guys at once and this kid is nothing. All Draco Malfoy-you know? "Wait until my father hears about this" and such.
Let's shorten this to "how Jake ends up in that paddy wagon in the trailer."
Percy accidentally shoots a deputy in the arm, Jake knees him in the balls and walks over to the saloon for a drink.
While he's drinking an entire bottle of "on-the-house-for-saving-my-husband's-ass" whiskey and trying to ignore Olivia Wilde's character, Ella Swenson, the sheriff (KEITH CARRADINE!) spots a wanted poster in the office while he's locking up Percy. It's Daniel Craig's face with "WANTED Jake Lonergan" for theft, armed robbery, arson, and (we later learn) murder.
So they bring him in. After another fight that Ella ends by pistol whipping Jake in the back of the head. There's dream stuff of things he can't quite remember. I'm sitting there wondering how bad a headache he's got from having a heavy object slammed into his skull. He wakes up on a cot in a cell getting spit on by Percy who is still going on and on about how his father is going to straight up murder him for blah blah blah. There's a little moment where it looks like Jake might actually throw up and I flipped out a little because they addressed the issue of "he probably has a concussion now." Percy keeps talking, so Jake just reaches through the bars, grabs Percy's collar, and slams his head against the cell bars to knock him out.*
Honest to God, my brain played the scene in Joe Kidd where Clint Eastwood, tired of his cell mate's shit, throws a pot of hot beans in the guy's face to get him to shut his trap.
Percy is suitably scared of Jake after that.
By the way, between all of this happening, two of Woodrow Dolarhyde's cattle wranglers and about thirty head of cattle get vaporized and the only guy who survives was about to take a dump in the river at the time. He's got the guy strung up between two horses and is questioning the idjit when Nat Colorado (Adam Beach) rides in from town to tell him Percy's in the clink. I didn't think it was possible for Harrison Ford to scowl even harder, but there it was. Though, when Nat mentions Jake Lonergan being in custody as well, we get the patented Harrison Ford Smirk™ because Jake stole gold from him and-look at that-he can still ride a horse.
Jake and Percy and shackled together (Percy freaking out the entire time about not wanting to be stuck with the crazy guy) in the back of a paddy wagon to be taken to the nearest Marshal's office, Woodrow and Sheriff Taggart have Words, Ella tries to talk to Jake again, and then everything just stops for a moment.
There are lights moving toward town and it's strange enough to get everybody out into the street to see them (I had a Close Encounters of a Third Kind flashback). Jake's wrist thing starts blinking and opens up. He aims it at Percy and we see a holograph of Percy's head in the "crosshairs." Through the back door of the paddy wagon, he picks up three moving signatures in the sky. The lights disappear and then all hell breaks loose.
Ships start doing fly-bys and roping people off the ground, other ships just blow shit up. The paddy wagon ends up separated from the horses, Jake breaks Percy's hand so he isn't shackled to the idjit anymore, and after a moment of wondering about it he just blows the damn doors off the back of the wagon.
In all this, he's lost his hat.
Like Indiana Jones, things are on hold in his head for a moment as he finds it and drops it on his head.
Doc's wife is taken, Sheriff Taggart is taken (leaving his grandson-who Ella grabs and hauls to safety), Percy is taken mid-sentence with his father, and guns aren't working on these ship things. So, on a hunch, Jake aims his wrist at the last ship and blows it up.
An injured alien escapes the wreckage, and the chase to find the abducted townsfolk begins. You'll have to watch the movie to find out the rest. So many things happen in this movie.
Since tomorrow is Sunday… There were two moments that really stuck with me from the preacher. Telling Jake that "God don't care about what you did, he cares about what you do/," "It's not God's plan, it's your own. You just gotta remember what it was," and telling Doc that "you don't expect God to do everything for you, do you?" I mean, that's not something you hear in movies nowadays.
There was another piece of advice he gave Doc when he was teaching him how to shoot… I laughed a little too loud when he said it.
"Don't yank it-it ain't your pecker. Squeeze the trigger."
So the action is incredible, the acting is great, the characters are memorable, the plot is unique, there are some hilarious lines, the attention to detail is fantastic, the aliens are less "CG" and more "flipping creepy," and it had my dad literally on the edge of his seat almost the entire time. I loved it. I want to see it again. I am willing to risk an entire afternoon of knee pain just to watch it again in the theater.
Jon Favreau can direct the hell out of a movie.
*I had to make a gif of this scene.