Cowboys & Aliens: (Merged Threads)

[ComradeClaus]

So, I watched it the day it came out. Interesting, though the aliens looked like LOTR cave trolls.

So post your opinions if you saw it. (or your general opinion on the hard or softness of the SF shown)

[The Romulan Republic]

I kind of liked it, though I've never read the comic, know next to nothing about it, and can't comment on how faithful the film was. It could be very derivative, and I saw a lot of the twists and dialog coming. In fact, it was pretty much a by-the-numbers modern western that happened to have aliens as the villains. Beyond that, however, it was pretty well made. Daniel Craig makes a reasonably convincing stoic bad ass, and Harrison Ford gave a pretty strong performance (don't let anyone tell you Ford is too old to play a bad ass action hero). Ford's character was surprisingly complex and sympathetic. The film also had some funny moments, though they tended to involve Craig's character effortlessly smacking around anyone who annoyed him. All in all, it was an enjoyable film, not the best I've seen this year but not the worst either.

Oh, and I'll edit this in now, since I forgot to earlier: the title is Cowboys and Aliens, not Cowboys vs Aliens.

[Mr Bean]

First off it was awesome and much better than expected sans one or two points
Second off, watching Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig do a grit off is hilarious
Third off the aliens motivation sucks, I'll give you a hint they stole it from Battlefield Earth (On the plus side they did think to check to see if the local monkeys mine it themselves)

Now onto general comments
The movie as described by others is a great Western which happens to contain Aliens, in fact the first twenty odd minutes are a great western and them bamf aliens show up and things go south. The lead up to it as we follow an cowboy with no name(Danial Craig and his characters name is Jack by the way) as he first beats the crap out of some Indian hunters (Complete with freshly taken scalps) and then beats the crap out of Harrison Ford's son (Which is a shame Mr LaBeouf is not playing Ford's son in this movie as well, this movie might have made it into my all time favorite list if we had gotten to see Daniel Craig beat the shit out of LaBeouf for ten minutes). Also of note this is an R movie, or an R movie minus sex (None) as the violence in it is while not over the top is very visceral if not totally show. The CGI aliens stab a hand through someone's chest or Danial Craig beats a man to death you just hear and some what see it. Also lots of people die including characters you think are going to make it except for one bit of bullshit which is my one detraction from the movie.

[The Romulan Republic]

I actually think the aliens' motive being to Spoiler

steal gold

makes perfect stylistic sense given that the film is basically "western plus aliens". I highly doubt it was a deliberate Battlefield Earth rip-off.

[Mr Bean]

Spoiler

All it needed was Terl alien to chew up the scenery because the motivation is just as stupid for both movies, why bother the monkeys on earth when you could be harvesting our Asteroid belt for Gold or our others planets free of interference. Keep in mind that Gold is not the result of organic processes and is present all over our solar system in just as great quantities. Anyplace with volcanic activities will present the possibility of rich gold deposits. There are no monkeys on Mars, or the Asteroid belt or the moons of Jupiter to get in the way of your mining operations. Also it makes little sense to have gold mining devices in every room for the Alien Doctor to fall into after he tries to re-Autopsy Craig, but OAN:Props to the quiet menace for that CGI were we see said Alien Doctor reveal that their species sure as hell holds a grudge as we seem him move the glow stick up by his face so Craig can see for sure who's about to (try) to kill him

[The Romulan Republic]

Look, I'm not saying the motive made sense from a practical perspective. But it did make sense from a thematic/stylistic perspective. That's all.

[StarSword]

and then beats the crap out of Harrison Ford's son (Which is a shame Mr LaBeouf is not playing Ford's son in this movie as well, this movie might have made it into my all time favorite list if we had gotten to see Daniel Craig beat the shit out of LaBeouf for ten minutes).

When the guy first popped up, I actually thought it was Shia LaBeouf (damn that guy's name is hard to spell). From a distance, he looks just like him.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I had a coupon for a free ticket, so a friend and I decided to go check it out. We weren't expecting a whole lot, but we were pleasantly surprised.

THE GOOD:
The actors. It could've easily become a comedy or a farce, but Craig and Ford did a great job of grounding the movie, and you could tell everyone was taking it seriously. When the aliens finally attack, everyone panics and you do too.

THE BAD:
There was some plotting issues with this movie. We're introduced to a large supporting cast with enough characterization for us to care about them, and then half of them get abducted during the attack providing a plot motivator. Only problem was, I kinda forgot who we were supposed to be rescuing. At the end I was thinking 'Oh yeah, Ford has a son.'

THE AWESOME:
I know it sounds crazy, but they somehow managed to make aliens attacking 1890's New Mexico seem 'realistic'. Peoples' reactions were what you'd expect, and the carnage was pretty severe.
The movie did a good job of going against expectations. There was no 'sudden betrayal' or even really a deus ex machina. I had to laugh when they learn the aliens are here for gold and Harrison Ford exclaims 'THATS ABSURD!'

Overall its a great popcorn flick with a good story, and even if people get a bit of a 'happy ending' its in keeping with the western feel of the movie. I'd give it a B+/A-, and recommend people see it.

[The Romulan Republic]

I think there's already a thread for this in Off-Topic, but yes, its a decent film.

I found the film quite cliche at times (I could often predict what was coming), but it was entertaining. Ford's character and performance were quite good, and that for me was the highlight of the film.

[Ted C]

In Off Topic? How'd it end up there?

[Ted C]

Look, I'm not saying the motive made sense from a practical perspective. But it did make sense from a thematic/stylistic perspective. That's all.

The reason for the alien intrusion actually doesn't bother me. If they've managed to lower the cost of energy and interstellar flight enough, then it might actually be profitable to search other worlds for resources, and energy certainly seems to be cheap for them.

As for choosing Earth instead of an uninhabited planet, Earth obviously has an environment in which they can live pretty comfortably, which would make it far more convenient to establish a large-scale resource-gathering operation.

[LadyTevar]

Merged Topics, moved to appropriate forum

[LadyTevar]

I have yet to see the movie, but apparently the director wanted the movie to play like a Western, totally straight. He felt it would keep the movie would be too campy if played any other way.

[Imperial528]

I liked it. It was nice to see Harrison Ford in a sci-fi action flick, and the action was awesome in itself.

The alien's reason for being there was my only real problem with the movie, when as has been pointed out, they could've been strip-mining the system with no difficulties from the natives. Although it could make sense if they want a habitable planet as a base world, or if their goal is two-fold, in that they want to get resources and wipe out potential future threats, in which case they may only target systems with intelligent life. It says as much in the movie that they've wiped out an intelligent species before, and this one was space faring.

[Ryag Han]

hey, maybe they were mining for gold in asteroids, and decided ''hey, lets fuck up the natives of that small and stupid planet over there! have some fun smiting cattle, kidnapping and probing them..." then Craig Spoiler

got a laser cannon

and it all went downhill!

[CaptainChewbacca]

I liked that it wasn't overly-complicated how Craig got the weapon. The aliens just seriously didn't think it was possible that a human would grab a gun or even fight back.

Kinda like a monkey with a shotgun.

[Ryag Han]

Kinda like a monkey with a shotgun.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes comes to mind...

[Imperial528]

That's a bit different.

Mainly, in Cowboys and Aliens, the natives with the larger population are the primitives, but while they are less advanced, they are a species that has been intelligent for quite some time, and most importantly, the more advanced aliens do not control the primitive's population, and never did.

Whereas in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the larger, more advanced, native population group is supposedly threatened by a minuscule population of lab experiments that weren't smart enough to open latched cages the week prior to their escape.

That and the initial firepower disparity isn't as great in C&A than in Rise. Really, an ape can't do anything against a guy with a rifle or pistol at range.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Its more like a reverse-avatar.

[Skylon]

I dug it. There were more heads attached to the film than I expected (in addition to Ford and Craig - I didn't expect Sam Rockwell or the dude who played Eli in "There Will Be Blood"). It was a fun film, with some honest twists that I didn't expect.

But these have to be some of the dumbest movie aliens I think we've seen. And I don't even mind the motive (maybe gold is valuable to them...why not?) They have advanced weaponry and guns don't outright kill them, but rather than use their tech and stamina to their advantage, they charge into melee combat, which is the doom of them as spears have a better shot at piercing their hide than bullets.

I think we finally have a race whom the ID4 aliens could rape.

[StarSword]

What would they use gold for, anyway? It's too soft for a structural material, and melts too soon to be used for armor. Only thing it's good for other than jewelry and money (and that's 'cause it's pretty) is as an electrical conductor.

I think we finally have a race whom the ID4 aliens could rape.

Or Starfleet, for that matter.

[The Romulan Republic]

I'd just like to know that based on what I can recall of the film, for all we know the aliens could have been a civilian mining crew, not fully trained and equipped soldiers.

[Atia]

So am I the only one who thought the aliens kind of looked like the cloverfield monster with slightly better posture?

[Erik von Nein]

Yanno, they did have weapons that they were firing in the battle. Just not all that well. And the spear thing didn't happen until near the end-ish of the fight. The best that they got before was eye-ball-tastic shots and a dude knifing some dynamite into one of them.

Anyhow, I thought the movie was great. Harrison Ford grumping it up and then becoming a *gasp* <i>slightly nuanced character</i> was hilarious. Sure, sure. His touching scene was pretty cliche. But, hey! They acted it out well. Plus, Ford got more dialogue than the actual main character, which I found greatly amusing.

I thought, from the previews, that Craig's little arm-cannon was given to him by some other alien species to fight the good fight, or whatever. How he actually got it was pretty sweet.

Olivia whoever was probably the weakest character (I mean, aside from the kid, but he's a kid so whatever). Fucking campfires. Man, what.

Also, molten metal hurts. Yowza.

[Skylon]

Yanno, they did have weapons that they were firing in the battle. Just not all that well. .

Oh, I did catch the weapons fire, but their primary tactic seemed to be "Charge in screaming and tear them apart!"

As was noted though, these may not have been trained soldiers.

Still, it doesn't detract from the fact that this was an unexpectedly fun movie.