COWBOYS AND ALIENS: MOVIE

Last night, my daughter and I saw the premiere of the new movie, “Cowboys and Aliens” with Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig at the Megaplex 12  in Salt Lake City. While there was lots of action and some entertaining moments, it just didn’t resonate with me (or my daughter, for that matter).

I’ll admit, I’m picky about movies.  And I have a hard time with “alien invasion” flicks because they’re been done so many times, and often not very well.  They really need a great story and well-developed characters for me to buy into them — such as  “Independence Day” with Will Smith and Bill Pullman. And even that was a stretch for me.

An Old West setting switched things up a bit, but the story was thin, and you really didn’t get to know any of the characters very well.  Daniel Craig’s stoic loner was too aloof to get know and care much about. Harrison Ford’s cattle baron character was a jerk, although his persona softened a bit by the end of the movie. His son was such a spoiled dork that I hoped the aliens would keep him.  Some of the more interesting roles — the mysterious woman, the saloon owner and the preacher — could have had a little more meat to them.

It made me feel old to see Harrison Ford play the role of the crochety old guy instead of the young, handsome action hero. He wears his age a lot better than most of us do!  But even he couldn’t save this movie for me. There’s plenty of action for those who love lots of fighting, shooting and mayhem, but this is no “Indiana Jones.”

I would give it a 6 out of 10 rating.  

Seen any good movies lately? Which ones?