Okay is there a better alien concept than this? Well, truthfully, yes, but nonetheless, this is purty dang good. And it’s a Spielberg flick, so has to be good. And directed by Jon Favreau – you know, the guy that called Doug Heffernan “Doug Heffercan” for licking a trash can when he was a kid in school. Finally, what a cast: Daniel Craig (who does an American accent just fine) played Jake, Harrison Ford (sorry dude, you don’t cut it as a bad guy) was Colonel Dolarhyde, and Olivia “13” Wilde was Ella. Plus, a fantastic supporting cast. In fact, the first guy you will recognize is… Clancy Brown aka Mr. Krabs from SpongeBob SquarePants! So of course, we will have to sing along… everyone:
“Ooohhhh…. Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?”
“SpongeBob SquarePants!”
“Absorbant and yellow and porous is he!”
“SpongeBob SquarePants!”
“If nautical nonsense be something you wish!”
“SpongeBob SquarePants!”
“Then drop on the deck and flop like a fish!”
“SpongeBob SquarePants!”
“SpongeBob SquarePants!”
“SpongeBob SquarePants!”
“SpongeBob…. SquarePants!”
Okay enough of that foolishness, but Mr. Krabs does play a decent preacher (Meacham) – too bad later in the film he got gutted like a fish by a crab-looking alien – oh the irony!
Sam Rockwell played “Doc”, a chump who’s wife got grabbed by the aliens. Paul Dano played Percy, Colonel Dolarhyde’s son. I really like Dano, he is a very good, young actor. Keith Carradine played sheriff Taggart – come on, man, you’re getting type cast here. This isn’t Deadwood! And last, but surely not least, the one, the only, Adam Beach aka Kickin’ Wing from THE GREAT Joe Dirt movie played Nat. Wooooo! No nuclear fireworks tho…
Oddly enough, Harrison Ford was the hammiest and did the worst acting job in this movie. Like I said, he doesn’t play bad guys well. Although he did improve later in the movie when he started to turn into a good guy – hey just like professional wrestling – the heel turns into the face. Jiminy Christmas, did Mr. Vince McMahon write this plot? Just kidding, the plot was actually good.
Anywho, speaking of the plot, a little about this one. As the title implies, it’s pretty obvious. Cowboys in 1873, led by Jake (who also wore a strange metallic wrist device that he later learned was an alien weapon) battle aliens that are abducting the local townsfolk in aircraft that resembled metallic dragonflies. As per most such alien movies, they do not come in peace, in fact, they were here to exterminate humans. Of course! So the cowboys formed a posse, along with Apache Indians, to attack the alien’s mother ship, which was partially buried in the desert.
I won’t ruin the ending, but suffice to say this is a very entertaining movie with excellent and unusual special effects. For the genre, highly recommended – seven greys out of ten.