A man (Daniel Craig) wakes up in the middle of the Arizona desert with a strange contraption on his wrist and no recollection of who he is. After attacking three men who were aiming at taking him in for possible reward money, he rides into an unfriendly town run by a Civil War colonel and now cattle baron (Harrison Ford). Soon the town is under attack by aliens, or demons as the townspeople call them, and the stranger with the mysterious past and bracelet may be their only hope for survival. Cowboys & Aliens is a genre mashup to the extreme, but it works because both genres, especially the western are respected. The story is not particularly inspired, but the movie is well filmed by director Jon Favreau and contains some spectacularly shot vistas to go with the CGI, which is well used and thankfully (and surprisingly) not in 3D. Craig and Ford are strong here but I think their iconic roles precede them and they are hard to buy as Western heroes. However, supporting actors such as Keith Carradine, Sam Rockwell, the beautiful Olivia Wilde, and Clancy Brown fit comfortably in their Western roles. At its most basic level, Cowboys & Aliens is a fun action film that doesn't go for overkill in the special effects department and is made by people who appreciate the two genres they are mashing up.
