"COWBOYS & ALIENS"

"Bond" guy Daniel Craig channels Clint Eastwood as Jake Lonergan in Jon Favreau's "Cowboys & Aliens" a Sci-fi Western.  Craig co-stars with  Harrison Ford who plays crusty cattle rancher Woodrow Dolarhyde (great name).  Jake Lonergan is a wanted man who comes to, amnesic,  his uncannily blue eyes red-rimmed and bleary, in the middle of a searing desert, wearing a mysterious metal bracelet which he examines, puzzled as to how he came by it, which is explained later.   Seems Jake had run off with some gold coins, betrayed his gang for a woman, engendering their wrath.


 What makes this movie so much fun is that it's a spoof on all the Western flicks and includes every Western cliché ever employed.  Plus, it boasts a stellar cast with Olivia Wilde ("House") as Ella, a myserious regenerative spirit; an excellent Paul Dano who's out-of control character of Percy Dolarhyde - - Dolarhyde's son - - reminds us of his preacher from "There Will Be Blood;" Sam Rockwell ("Moon")  as Doc, a bar owner/ medic.  He's almost unrecognizable in round, gold-rimmed glasses; his hair, parted in the middle, is slicked down with pomade so thick you can smell it.  Ana de la Reguera plays Maria, his doting wife.  Distinctive-voiced Keith Carradine (who's not in enough films to suit me) as the Sheriff John Taggart.   Same could be said for Native-Canadian star Adam Beach ("Law & Order: SVU") who plays intrepid "Indian" scout, Nat Colorado.   Wide-eyed child actor Noah Ringer plays Emmet Taggart, the Sheriff's son who becomes a man in his own right for his heroic deeds; and Clancy Brown as Meachum, another lawman.

The beauty of the film is that it illustrates believably how mortal enemies - - Cowboys & Native Americans & rival gangs - - can bond to fight a common enemy. As long as you have a mediator like Jake Lonergan to accomplish this. The enemies in this case are monsters from another planet. As in "Super 8" the monsters, who look like they could have been borrowed from that film, abduct various townsfolk by means of gi-normous dragonfly-like spacecraft which zoom screeching overhead and drop lines from the sky, hooking these hapless folk like so much trout, reel them in, then hide them in an underground cave for what purpose it's not made exactly clear - - at least not to me.   The flick has a kinda "High Plains Drifter" ending, too.

So far this week, it's tied with the Smurfs' film for top box office.  Don't let that bother you, see it anyway; it's fun, just remember to keep tongue in cheek.