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Cowboys & Aliens

Play trailer 1:19 Poster for Cowboys & Aliens PG-13 2011 1h 58m Sci-Fi Western Action Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
44% Tomatometer 254 Reviews 43% Popcornmeter 100,000+ Ratings
Bearing a mysterious metal shackle on his wrist, an amnesiac gunslinger wanders into a frontier town called Absolution. He quickly finds that strangers are unwelcome, and no one does anything without the approval of tyrannical Col. Dolarhyde. But when Absolution faces a threat from beyond Earth, the stranger finds that he is its only hope of salvation. He unites townspeople, outlaws and Apache warriors against the alien forces in an epic battle for survival.
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Critics Consensus

Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford are as dependably appealing as ever, but they're let down by director Jon Favreau's inability to smooth Cowboys & Aliens' jarring tonal shifts.

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Critics Reviews

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Candice Frederick Reel Talk Online 09/08/2017
B+
From the cool special effects, to its top-notch acting and wickedly fun concept, Cowboys and Aliens is just that film that you may in fact hate to love. But it is really enjoyable. Go to Full Review
Sara Michelle Fetters MovieFreak.com 01/27/2012
2.5/4
It must be said upfront that, for all its problems and script deficiencies, Cowboys & Aliens is probably the most continually entertaining effort of director Jon Favreau's still relatively young career. Go to Full Review
Ed Gibbs Sydney Morning Herald 08/19/2011
7/10
There is nothing that fascinating about Favreau's treatment, nor his source material, but compared with similar blockbuster fare of recent months, this curious exercise in genre bending is very watchable. Go to Full Review
Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Jan 1
2/4
It’s apparent the writers merely plugged in conventional story devices that would have worked just as well in a movie named Cops & Barracudas or Doctors & Hornets or even Accountants & Amoebas. Go to Full Review
Bill Newcott AARP Movies for Grownups 04/01/2023
4/5
If Sam Peckinpah had made Close Encounters of the Third Kind...(or)...if Steven Spielberg ...had directed The Wild Bunch, I could imagine it turning out a lot like this. Go to Full Review
Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review 03/09/2023
3/4
The film serves up a serious-minded genre experiment that works, despite some lingering feelings of disappointment for its lack of raw, popcorn-munching silliness. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Tyson D. @Spudsprout 5d (Overall Rating: 3.04/5) (OK) --- (Cinematography/Atmosphere: 3.75/5) The spectacles were pretty good and the CGI holds up decently, that said it was all a bit cheesy. --- (Storyline/Plot: 2.5/5) Its missing so much information to the story and drags out what little info it gives you. There is also noticeable incontinuity of scenes/actions. --- (Acting: 3/5) For being such a star studded cast I would have liked better performaces. Acting was just OK --- (Character Quality: 2.5/5) These characters and their lines seemed like they were written by the kid in us all who would have dreamt up a story like this playing in our backyard. --- (Entertainment Value: 4/5) If you aren't trying to rate this film it is an entertaining watch but this alone does not make a great movie. --- (Expectations vs. Reality: 2.5/5) Is it a western? Is it a sci fi? Is it a comedy? Is it a horror? It just lacks any true direction. It took itself much too seriously. See more Jaren C. @RT53087401 5d Amazing, if you combined red dead 2 and aliens See more Pedro Henrique C @Pedro2005 Jun 1 Cowboys & Aliens (2011) This is a real mess. The poor script itself leaves several things unexplained. The cinematography in this film is so dark that it detracts from the audience's experience. See more Jim222001 W @Jim222001 May 31 An under-rated that probably should have been more fun and took itself a little less seriously. Though it’s fine for what it is, a Western with aliens. See more Mitch S @SwagoDiego2k May 26 It's just a poorly done concept of an idea that had potential. The content it's based on would have been a good template to use. The big issue I have is the the aliens. How do they have the ability to stand up right and use tech that is so sophisticated that they can literally space travel to another planet. On the ship they have a scanning laser system that turned a woman to dust. The stranger has a piece of tech on his arm that shoots high tech explosive projectiles out of it. And yet the aliens act like beasts. They even use bombs and have the ability to clearly why devolve into actual beasts. One alien even uses a fricken rocket launcher type weapon. Why not every alien be upright holding advanced weapons in a organized manner? Not just jumping people and being easy to shoot targets. Seems just to big if an issue for the story to work. Lots of other issues. Idk I wouldn't recommend but maybe you'll like it. See more Sharayah H. @RT07646023 May 26 Really loved how different it was. I enjoyed a new concept See more Read all reviews
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Movie Info

Synopsis Bearing a mysterious metal shackle on his wrist, an amnesiac gunslinger wanders into a frontier town called Absolution. He quickly finds that strangers are unwelcome, and no one does anything without the approval of tyrannical Col. Dolarhyde. But when Absolution faces a threat from beyond Earth, the stranger finds that he is its only hope of salvation. He unites townspeople, outlaws and Apache warriors against the alien forces in an epic battle for survival.
Director
Jon Favreau
Producer
Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Scott Mitchell Rosenberg
Screenwriter
Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby
Distributor
Universal Pictures
Production Co
Fairview Entertainment, Imagine Entertainment, K/O Paper Products, Platinum Studios, Paramount Pictures International
Rating
PG-13 (Some Partial Nudity|A Brief Crude Reference|Western and Sci-Fi Action|Western and Sci-Fi Violence)
Genre
Sci-Fi, Western, Action
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 29, 2011, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 26, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA)
$100.2M
Runtime
1h 58m
Sound Mix
DTS, Dolby SRD, SDDS