Cowboys and Aliens

So, it's about what the title suggests: cowboys and aliens. It's 1873, and the wild West is being attacked by aliens. Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde come to the rescue.

Combining the western and science fiction genres was a very interesting move. I can't say if this has been done before, but the sheer novelty of having old school cowboys fight futuristic alien was enough to keep me watching. It is silly in some parts, like when they shoot their pistols at these big scary aliens like it's going to do something, but for the most part, the combination was fascinating. You have all the standard elements of a Western, and then these spaceships appear. There is mention among the cowboys that these aliens could be "demons", and not a whole lot more is discussed. I would have liked some more insight into the cowboys' thoughts on these aliens, and their technology

I like Daniel Craig, I may be blinded by his unnaturally blue eyes, but he seems to be a good actor. For some reason I wasn't too fussy on Harrison, he just doesn't come off as a hard-ass to me. Wilde's character is interesting and mysterious - I would have liked to have known more. Sam Rockwell plays Doc, but Rockwell will always be the hated Wild Bill from The Green Mile to me, and it makes him hard to like. His character was generic enough, though, to forget it was him. A shout-out to Paul Dano, who plays Ford's nut case of a son. I thought Dano was just super in There Will Be Blood, and I would have liked to have seen more of him.

Kind of a preposterous plot, but definitely an interesting combination. Good CGI, good acting, not a bad movie at all.