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Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), left, and Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) take on some critters from outer space in the genre-busting action film “Cowboys & Aliens.” |
The joys to be appreciated in Jon Favreau’s genre-smashing action film “Cowboys & Aliens” are numerous:
Harrison Ford’s hilariously surly cattle baron.
Daniel Craig’s stoically Eastwoodesque outlaw.
Vintage 1950s flying saucer invasion paranoia.
Top-notch special effects with excellent, eardrum-puncturing sound.
A restrained sense of humor.
But … Olivia Wilde’s miscast, misguided Wild West woman resembling a Mabelline model who packs a six gun strapped around a tight and shimmering pearl-colored outfit?
She looks out of place, talks out of place and acts out of place. The screenplay poses a reason why she seems so different, but the rules against spoilers prohibit me from saying anything further.
I can tell you that there comes a scene where Wilde’s character, Ella Swenson, takes “Cowboys & Aliens” out of spoof mode and drags it into sheer, off-the-charts dumbness, a scene that triggers the movie’s quick erosion from a fascinating mystery into a noisy, bloated, special effects and cliché extravaganza. (Read more…)