Cowboys and Aliens (2011)

A slightly longer video because I love the film and it includes a trailer. Enjoy!

Author: Michael Knox-Smith

Former Actor, Former Writer, Former Journalist, USAF Veteran, Former Member Nevada Film Critics Society (As Michael Smith)

18 thoughts on “Cowboys and Aliens (2011)”

  1. You just cannot beat Little Miss Sunshine! 😀 I really enjoyed Cowboys and Aliens, a lot of people felt let down, but I thought it was entertaining nonetheless. I hope you enjoy it when you get to see it! 🙂

  2. You mentioned Little Miss Sunshine! I LOVE the movie!!! Its my pick me up movie too and I have it on a double feature DVD with Juno and its my fave 🙂 Awesome review vid..I’ve been not too sure about Cowboys and Aliens and I’m gonna check this out now 🙂

  4. I’ve never had that view before, if you are going do something do it right! Argh getting flash backs from terrible films that could have been good! Argh!!!!!

  8. The premise for Cowboys & Aliens was brilliant! I had been very excited to see it when I first read the tagline of the plot about a mysterious drifter who comes into town and is arrested, but then turned to once aliens attack the small town. Robert Downey, Jr. was originally suppose to play the role, but he dropped out for scheduling reasons and so Daniel Craig then took the role. I did like Craig in this role a lot, and I loved the first act! All the ingredients were here for a classic, but I think what happens is filmmakers nowadays rely too heavily on CGI and so they don’t put in the effort they used to to write more interesting villains/aliens. But I am not saying you or anyone else is wrong for liking it b/c the premise alone is great; I was just answering your question about why so many critics hated it. I think the premise and the trailer raised expectations for those of us eager to watch, but then felt like the 3rd act didn’t deliver. And your “District 9” interpretation is spot-on for what the writer(s) was going for.

  9. I fell in love with District 9. It was a brilliantly thought out “outside” the box film dealing with “racism” and prejudice but with an “alien” slant, imho. Just a great film. I guess the reason I enjoyed Cowboys and Aliens was that someone had taken the time to do a “cross-genre” film that was a good marriage between the western genre and the science fiction genre which is, in reality and in most cases in the film world, the same genre. Still, I got a kick out of it despite it’s flaws. 🙂

  10. Yes, finally a movie we agree on! lol. Well, if you compare the alien predator to the aliens in “Cowboys & Aliens” I think you’ll have your answer why me and many others hated it. Think of all the time, heart and effort the creator(s) put into the Predator alien. He was fascinating! And the prosthetics were immaculate! But now we are mostly subjected to one-note CGI aliens who simply aren’t intriguing and travel in droves and die easily. As the cliche goes “Quality over Quantity”. In Predator we had ONE quality alien, which was not only sufficient, but was perfect in every aspect. But Cowboys & Aliens was full of a large quantity of aliens who all just die easy, and that’s just not interesting. I think that was the biggest flaw of the “Avengers” movie, as well. “District 9” was a much better current alien movie. They actually put some heart into the aliens, and I think that’s what makes an interesting alien flick; you have to give the alien a personality, and its own identity, which is what most of these current alien films are sorely lacking.

  12. The reason critics hated this film was b/c the aliens were not intriguing one iota; there was an army of them, but they all died off without much effort. I loved the first act of this movie, but then it just started to follow typical Hollywood formula, and then the last act became campy. Compare this to the original “Predator” movie. There was only one alien and he was a formidable villain. He was fascinating; he was complex and layered. THAT is the answer to your question what did critics want to see from a movie like this. This movie has a GREAT premise, but fell flat when the whimpy aliens were all defeated by mere guns. They needed to do more with the aliens. They could have been more intriguing. It’s like the script writer didn’t put enough heart into the story – especially in the final act. “District 9” was a much better alien film; look at the way that film never lost heart. It had heart all the way through. I won’t elaborate anymore since you hate when people post lengthy posts. And yes Keith Carradine was great in this, as he was on “Dexter”. And Daniel Craig did a great job, as well. Harrison Ford was atrocious and overacted. Ok, I will stop before I write another paragraph about how bad he was. This movie was terrible. I guess you and I disagree on everything. lol. You probably thought “Predator” sucked. lol.

  14. Mike I loved Cowboys and Aliens too! I don’t know what people were expecting either that hated it. To me it was brilliant. Loved the cast to and in my book Daniel Craig is a brilliant actor. His films before Bond are really fascinating and some even challenging on many levels but well worth seeing. I really enjoyed seeing you and hearing your review.

  15. Well, judging from other folks I’ve spoken to, you’re definitely not alone in your dislike of the film. Thanks for taking the time to watch my ramblings and then to comment! Cheers mate!! 😀

  18. ah need to watch the rest of this film, thanks for reminding me xD loved what I saw but I fell asleep about a third of the way through and missed most of it! Nothing to do with the film…I fall asleep in a lot of things!

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