Saturday, August 6, 2011

Cowboys vs. Aliens

Saw this a few days back. It is, in my opinion, a great movie in the sense that it is not only exactly what you expect, but satisfyingly so. Slight spoiler alert the whole thing.

Cowboys vs. Aliens is not a dramatic tragedy. It is not a romantic comedy. It is exactly what it sounds like. Take some cowboys and throw some aliens in. It watches like a fourth-wall-shattering masterpiece in which aliens interrupt some epic western movie, then everyone teams up to fight it. It does this greatly so- the battle scenes are well done, and the special effects are absolutely phenomenal. The story is kind of generic but entertaining and well-suited as its purpose in a movie of this sort is to transport the viewer between action scenes.

There's a great series of subtle statements in the movie as well, such as that later on, spears and Indian weapons which the cowboys often regarded as worthless are the most effective against the aliens. Then, there's a series of cinematographic choices which make an interesting parallel between the weapons and methods of the Indians being easily adaptable to and similar to those used by the medieval fighters of the past, in the example of a spear being used as a lance effectively.

There's also a callback to the old westerns in the use of Harrison Ford as Woodrow Dolarhyde. It's reminiscent, seeing him in a western, although kind of odd that he wasn't starring in it. It was for the best I suppose.

There's a lot of fridge logic questions that arise from this movie though. For example, why didn't Alice ever change her cloaking? It would make sense, for example, to change into one of the aliens to disguise herself when she was in the core at the end, as she would have been both more agile and less noticeable as a target. Also, when pistols proved to be almost completely useless against the aliens, while rifles did have an effect, why didn't any of the cowboys switch weapons to better effect?

Overall, I'd recommend this movie. Watch it if you haven't.

19 comments:

SuperCrabby said...

I am going to watch this movie. Good review. +following.

How To said...

Good review, I may consider seeing this now :P

Unknown said...

I was really split on seeing this blockbuster, especially after the so called critic review. I think you swayed me into seeing it though :)

TheGamerDaily said...

Enjoying the page

supercake said...

i'm going to watch this! great blog btw!

The Asian! said...

That movie was one of the most confusing things ever. Still a good movie never the less.

SillyPhotoStorys said...

Very nice +follower :)

D22 Zone said...

This is great! Loved reading it, thanks for updating

Comic Book Club said...

i will most definetly watch it!

Indiehashtag said...

I might see this. Thanks.

Rafik Soughou said...

Will watch, sounds exiting!

Jacob McCann said...

I really think you might be reading in too deeply into this movie. After having watched it myself, I came to the conclusion that it was targeted at the summer movie action crowd. It was predictable and devoid of any real content, a mashup of a story told a thousand times before.

JDC said...

The thing is this movie sounds like its going to be terrible, just the name Cowboys Vs Aliens is ridiculous, but for some reason I ust have to see it and looking forward to it!

Magixx said...

nice review, I am going to watch this movie prolly next week!
keep it up

thomau5 said...

I was intrigued by this film. i guess ill have to go see it

Clotifoth said...

@ McCann I thought of it so as well, it just strikes me as a non-coincidence that the movie would put forward such interesting ideas.

Allebanna said...

Why are western movies trying to make a comeback?! Stop trying to make fetch happen! It's not going to happen! on another note... pretty solid movie review! +follow!

Unknown said...

This movie sounded pretty interesting from the day its release was first announced! After reading your review i'm looking forward watching it, even if i read some kind of spoiler in the end of your text about a girl's cloak. Followed.

Chase said...

I must say I've been surprised by the reviews for this movie.