Jon Favreau's COWBOYS AND ALIENS

Review by Dennis D. McDonald

I loved this film. It’s a perfect demonstration of what I like in a popcorn film: fun, clever, interesting use of cliches, and lots of hats.

In fact, I think this is the best “hat” film I’ve seen since Ed Harris’ Appaloosa.

In one scene after Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde are thrown into a river following a ride on an alien aircraft I just KNEW that, despite the trauma of just having ridden through the air at high speed on a bizarre flying machine and after having been nearly drowned after destroying the device over a river, Daniel Craig would reach out and grab his hat floating nearby and squash it onto his head.

Which he does.

But seriously, this is one of the best westerns I’ve seen recently.

Just about every cliche imaginable is here — the posse, the ramshackle town, the barroom brawl, the nasty cattle  baron with a heart of gold, the mysterious drifter, the feisty female, the dog, Indians with war-paint — the list goes on.

The only thing missing is a view of tumble weeds blowing down Main Street — maybe in the Director’s Cut?

Review copyright (c) 2011 by Dennis D. McDonald