Cowboys And Aliens

Time for a movie review of Cowboys and Aliens!

Well, it may as well be said up front. This movie is very much one that will either be liked or hated, based on the person. It all depends on what you are expecting out of the movie, really.

Me? I liked it. It is a simple enough premise that borrows form established genres and pays affectionate homages to both. The movie begins with Daniel Craig waking up bloodied in the desert, with his memory gone, a mysterious bracelet firmly attached to his wrist, and a picture of a mysterious woman on the ground next to him.

As Craig wander into a dusty Western town, it is not long before he gets into trouble, drawing the attention of Olivia Wilde as an ethereal woman who knows about his past, and eventually irking Harrison Ford, in the role of a gruff cattle baron with a dark past. As Western drama erupts, aliens suddenly swoop in and begin capturing townspeople; causing Craig, Ford, and Wilde to join forces, form a posse, and begin hunting the aliens to their base in the desert.

The rest of the movie focuses on the chase, with our heroes tracking the aliens through the dusty West and running into bandits and hardship and Native Americans and savage aliens. The movie culminates in a thrilling showdown that is fairly epic and memorable. One thing is for sure. This movie is unique.

This movie is actually strongest when it is focusing on the Western themes. The set pieces and setup fall into familiar genre favorites, but it is still exciting and has great production values. That being said, the sci-fi/ western crossover does not always hold up awesomely well, but it is something new and fun enough that it can be overlooked.

Daniel Craig is great as a gruff grizzled dangerous guy, and Harrison Ford is… well… Harrison Ford. Which was fine with me. Olivia Wilde was fairly good as the mysterious woman who is not as she seems, in that ethereal glising… Olivia Wilde… kinda way.

The movie has been critically blasted, and has sharply divided audience opinion. I’ll say this though: I went into Cowboys and Aliens fully expecting it to suck. And I was pleasantly surprised by what it had to offer. Yeah, its kind of dumb and silly. But at the same time, it is a self aware work, and is therefore something that is presented unashamedly.

Final comments: This is one of the more interesting attempts at genre fusion, and was not presented at all in 3-D. That alone should give you a reason to go see it. For the first time since Avatar, an action movie that was shot and presented in 2-D without any kind of gimmickry. Thank. Goodness.

All in all, your pespective of this movie will all boil down to whether or not your appreciate the silliness of the premise and the straight way that they decided to implement the tone of the film.

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Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

The original Planet of the Apes movies were done well before my time. Back in 1968, a young Charlton Heston traveled to post apocalyptic earth to discover it was now run by gorillas, chimps, and orangutans. That began a successful string of films leading up to the 2001 Tim Burton remake of Planet of the Apes starring Mark Wahlberg. Fast forward to 2011. Anyone who had seen the original movies wondered how the Apes had taken over earth. The new film, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, answers all of those questions, and foreshadows more prologues to the original films.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is not an action movie. If you are expecting to see hours of Ape v.s. Human combat, this is not the movie for you. The movie is about a young scientist played by James Franco, who has discovered a potential cure to Alzheimers. The lab tests the cure on apes, and Franco determines that the cure has been raising the intelligence of the apes. One of the apes has a baby, which Franco eventually takes home, names Caesar and raises him on his own.

Caesar displays enhanced intelligence and rapidly develops into a member of the family. Franco’s father suffers from Alzheimers, and Franco eventually steals some of the cure from the lab and uses it to cure his father. When Franco’s father relapses, Caesar comes to his aid to protect him, and ends up getting locked up by the authorities. I will not spoil the movie for you, but it is quite deep. Many dynamics are at work. Is Caesar a pet, a child or an equal? The intelligence Caesar displays is incredible, as he leads the apes to freedom.

The Graphics are on par with movies like Avatar. Every ape is entirely computer generated. The previous films feature humans with makeup and a bit of CGI assistance. The monkeys here were made from scratch and look absolutely incredible. Andy Serkis “plays” the role of Caesar. He himself is not in the film, but his face was used to help create the emotions that Caesar conveys through his emotive facial expressions.

There is a little bit of everything for people in this movie. There is love, action, death, drama and a bit of comedy. I enjoyed every minute of the movie and would recommend it to everyone. Once again, if you are expecting non stop action, this movie is not going to provide it. However, if you enjoy thought provoking movies with great acting, graphics and a stellar storyline, the Rise of the Planet of the Apes will not disappoint.

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