Review: "Cowboys & Aliens"

That's Daniel Craig's rather magnificent ass on the poster for director Jon Favreau's latest movie Cowboys & Aliens. Based on the graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Cowboys & Aliens is one of the summer's most anticipated movies.

In 1873 Arizona, Jake Lonergan (Craig) awakes in the desert, shoeless and memory-less, with a strange metal cuff on his left wrist and a bloody wound in his right side. After a quick and violent encounter with a trio of ne'er-do-wells, Jake makes his way to the dying mining town of Absolution, where he's patched up by the local preacher (Clancy Brown) in time for him to save the local innkeeper, Doc (Sam Rockwell) from a dustup with the drunken son (Paul Dano) of the only man in town with any money. When the sheriff (Keith Carradine) arrives, he recognizes Jake from a wanted poster and promptly arrests him, but not before a mysterious young woman (Olivia Wilde) approaches Jake asking about the "bracelet" he's wearing. Learning his son is on the way to prison, rancher Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) and his hands ride into town demanding his release. But the brewing showdown is not to be; Jake's cuff starts to beep and light up and the town is suddenly attacked by flying machines that seem to rope people (including Doc's wife and Dolarhyde's son) around their chests and carry them off into the night. Jake also discovers the cuff is a weapon and brings one of the fliers down, releasing a wounded monster into the night. Deciding they need his weapon, Dolrahyde forces Jake to join them in tracking the beast in hopes of recovering the kidnapped townsfolk and the party sets off.

Not being familiar with Rosenberg's original, I had no idea what to expect, though I am a fan of Favreau's. His Iron Man films and the Jumanji follow-up, Zathura were terrific fun, and I hoped that C&A would be, as well. And I am pleased to note that I was not disappointed. Though I was a bit surprised at how much of a Western the movie is, filled with very specific archetypal characters forced by circumstance to work together against forces beyond their comprehension. Happily, Favreau doesn't keep us wondering and gives us a full-on view the aliens early on. The amphibious/insectoid beasties with googly eyes and surprise limbs are creepy and dangerous-looking - not something you want to run into in dark (or even well-lit) alley.

The performances are terrific, across the board and Craig's American accent is dead-on. As a former bad man given the chance for redemption, Jake is almost an anti-hero, driven by revenge more than anything. And before you ask, yes, we get a good look at Craig's well-defined torso, though it's a bit dirty and banged up. Ford's Dolarhyde is also not the most likable of fellows; a man made bitter by his experiences in the Civil War and a disappointing son. Wilde is fine as the tough gal with a big secret and Rockwell is excellent, as always as a former doctor who only wants to run his saloon with his wife in peace. The rest of the supporting cast are on the money and you'll certainly recognize many of them.

Cowboys & Aliens' plot may be a bit preposterous but this a summer Sci-Fi action flick, not The Cherry Orchard. And as a summer Sci-Fi action flick, Cowboys & Aliens succeeds quite nicely. A thoroughly entertaining movie loaded with action, suspense and humor, Cowboys & Aliens was actually better than I had anticipated and I and my companions all left the theater happy. What more can one ask from a summer popcorn movie? *** (Three Out of Four Stars).

Wow! An amazing long weekend in Chicago with two wonderful friends and two terrifically fun movies in one week! The week after my birthday has proven to be even better that the week of. I may have to go back to the real world on Monday, but I had one hell of a vacation! I hope your week was as good as mine!

More, anon.
Prospero

DVD Review: "Quantum of Solace"

Wow! It's been so long since I've rented a movie, I almost forgot how to work my DVD player!

When it was announced that British character actor Daniel Craig was going to be the new James Bond in 2006's Casino Royale, there was a furor among Bond fans like no other. I even found myself among the non-believers. How could this short, blond, sour-faced guy be the suave MI6 spy so many of us had come to love? But the film turned out to be absolutely terrific and Craig proved the nay-sayers (myself included) wrong.

Now comes the next Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, the first ever direct sequel in the Bond series. You may remember that at the end of Casino Royale, Bond's true love, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) was killed, though it was made to look like a suicide. Quantum picks up almost immediately where Casino left off, with Bond seeking revenge for Vesper's death. Turns out that Casino's villain, Le Chiffre, was laundering money for a secret organization with ties so deep, they literally have people everywhere, including MI6. Even M (Judy Dench) isn't safe, as her personal bodyguard of the last six years turns out to be a member of the secret cabal. So, Bond is off to Haiti, where he encounters Camille (Olga Kuryenko), who turns out to be a Bolivian Secret Service agent, seeking her own revenge on the sadistic general who murdered her parents when she was a child. Camille has hooked up with one Dominic Greene (Mathieu Almaric), a supposed environmentalist who is secretly diverting Bolivia's water supply in order to create a monopoly for his company. The plot gets too tangled to go much further, and to be honest, I'm still not sure what the secret organization (apparently called "Quantum") is, who they are or what they want. Though I suppose (and hope) that will be explored in the next film.

But, as with most Bond films, plot is secondary to action, and there is plenty of that to go around. Starting with a heart-pounding car chase through the Italian countryside and moving on to a roof-top foot chase, the action sequences are everything we've come to expect from a Bond film. There is plenty of gun play, hand-to-hand combat and even an aerial chase between a clunky old plane and a jet-fighter.

Director Marc Forster (Finding Neverland; The Kite Runner and the up-coming World War Z) handles the action well, and the script by Paul Haggis (Crash) and Neal Purvis (The World is Not Enough; Die Another Day) makes as much sense as any Bond flick, though it ends leaving more questions than it answers. Craig is terrific, baring less of his magnificent body than he did in Casino Royale, though looking worse-for-the-wear after many fight sequences and bringing a darkness to the role that previous actors may have overlooked (his Bond is more Bourne and less Brosnan). Kuryenko is fine in her 'Bond Girl' capacity, though I still miss Halle Berry's Jinx. A few other fine actors waste their time here: Dame Judy Dench, Giancarlo Giannini and Jeffrey Wright reprise their roles from Casino Royale, though I also missed Q (MI6's gadget genius), most recently played by the incomparable John Cleese. There are a few one-liners that will bring a laugh and the Bond tradition of ridiculously-named women continues with Strawberry Fields (oh, Pussy Galore, where are you?). There's even an homage to Goldfinger.

If you're a fan of the Bond series (I have been since I can remember) or a fan of outrageous action and stunt work, you'll most likely enjoy Quantum of Solace (probably the worst titled Bond film, ever). But to be honest, give me Dr. No or Goldfinger over any of the more recent Bond movies, any day. There's just something about Sean Connery's Bond that makes me weak at the knees. *** (Three out of Four Stars).

More, anon.

Prospero