Cowboys and Aliens

COWBOYS AND ALIENS (2011) - Aug. 4, 2011
Meh.  A disappointing film about a gunslinger in the old west who wakes up in the middle of the desert with a strange device attached to his wrist, and no memory of who he is or how he got there.  He later finds himself helping the residents of a small town deal with an alien invasion.  Though the film was generally well made, it just wasn't that great.  I think one of the main problems was Daniel Craig, who is just flat-out bland in the film.  The role is kind of underwritten; they're clearly going for a mysterious bad-ass, Man With No Name type of vibe, but Craig just does not make it work.  He's all flat gruffness; there's no reason to care about his character, and he's not particularly interesting to watch.  The rest of the performances were fine (it's hard to go wrong with a cast filled with people like Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell, Adam Beach and Paul Dano), and the action was decent enough, but it was all just kind of middling.  And to think that this was my most anticipated movie of the summer.  Boo-urns.  **1/2