Western & Sci Fi -- it's like chocolate and beer!

Went to see "Cowboys & Aliens" on Sunday afternoon. I don't know what I expected going in, but the movie was very good. It's interesting to think about--we tend to think that aliens showed up en masse after the Roswell incident. Or that they were a part of ancient civilizations. Why should it be so weird that aliens were part of the old west, as well?

I won't go into the story line, but it's nothing that hasn't been done before. Just retold in an interesting way. The casting was interesting as well. The central characters were played by Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. I don't recall Ford playing second banana to anyone since the Star Wars days. But there's no question that the story is built around Craig. Without giving anything away, he reminded me of Clint Eastwood in "The Outlaw Josey Wales"--a mystery man with a gun. Ford, on the other hand, played a heavy in this one, and how often does that happen? He softens up through the movie, but he's not the lovable leading man we've come to expect.

Of course, you have to have a strong female in all this, and that falls to Olivia Wilde. Olivia Wilde with a six-shooter strapped to her hip. A girl and her gun--oh, yeah! There's a bit of mystery with her too, but who cares? It's Olivia Wilde! And yes, there's a scene of Olivia Wilde buck-nekkid--not a bad thing at all. Nothing to be seen, of course, but there's about 5-10 seconds where you're hoping the camera pans around or something. Of course, the townsfolk AND the Indians (yep, there's Indians too!) all got an eyeful! Probably multiple takes, at that...

As for the aliens? Steven Spielberg has found a new alien that looks a whole lot more badass than E.T. or the little ones from "Close Encounters"! They're big and fast and mean. Interestingly, back a hundred fifty years ago, alien abductions looked more like calf roping. Didn't they have tractor beams or something like that?

As for the sci-fi part of things, there were all the bells and whistles that you'd expect. As a western, it stayed true to formula. At least as true as you could be when fighting aliens flying at you shooting at you!

On a final note--I was expecting Ford to say his "I have a bad feeling about this" line, but I didn't hear it. If it's in there, it passed me by. Might have to consider going back to see it again, just to see if it's in there. And to get another look at Olivia Wilde...