3 out of 5

Director: Jon Favreau

There’s no denying this is a Western at heart. How much of that is from the source material I can’t say, but director Favreau shoots and paces and directs it like a Western, and the script casts all these characters – the lone cowboy, the mean rancher, the Americanized Apache, the tough preacher, the can’t-make-a-buck saloon owner, etc. – all elements from the history of the Western, and then mixes them in a pot with some aliens and special effects. The problem, for audiences, it seemed, is that it’s not enough. This is not only a Western at heart, it WANTS to be a Western, with the aliens replacing… what, a nasty band of gringos or something, and so although the alien character design is pretty nifty, the battles are built up to with a lot of male bonding and quiet staring. Daniel Craig somehow got a blaster that is the only weapon against the aliens, but he only uses it on select occasions. It looks amazing – Matthew Libatique’s cinematography has the crisp color filters of modern cinema without the “realistic” graininess those films try to employ, giving the whole film a really bright, pure look. Favreau gives his actors and his landscape and his story plenty of room… it’s just unable to fully commit to being a Western OR a sci-fi flick, and so ends up being just a pretty normal adventure movie, with well placed effects and a good cast. The high concept is nicely downplayed for this same reason, but that might make it slow for those expecting something more. The kind of wholesome, digestible Saturday morning action flick we don’t get so much anymore.