Cowboys & Aliens

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Cowboys & Aliens

PG-13

2011

1h 58m

Sci-Fi

Western

Action

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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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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Kenlee R

@KenleeR Dec 11

Cowboys & Aliens is the kind of cinematic experience that defies expectations and happily throws genre conventions into a blazing campfire. Far from a generic summer blockbuster, this 2011 film successfully executes a concept that is, quite literally, out of the box. It fuses the gritty, dusty realism of the American Western with the high-octane spectacle of science fiction. The result is a surprisingly cohesive, entertaining, and utterly unique movie that deserves recognition for its ambition and execution. The film successfully caters to those who crave Westerns and sci-fi by not making either element feel like an afterthought. It’s a genuine Western until the aliens arrive, and then it becomes a uniquely Western-flavored sci-fi action film. The cast delivers a stellar performance, ensuring that the characters are far from the one-dimensional tropes often found in genre mash-ups. In summary, I highly recommend this movie to those who enjoy a wild ride and stellar story telling.

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Leaburn O

Dec 10

A solidly produced and strangely seriously acted film. It’s actually not as bad as the title would immediately suggest. That said, it’s still a bit too silly. Watched on DVD.

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Jim P

Dec 5

Interesting idea... but it's rubbish

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Pongo K

Nov 30

This movie is great! Search the historical context. C it!

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tommy J

Nov 23

Awesome movie. Gave me breifs vibes of the Knights of Cedonia music video by Muse as well as thebl classic movie with Yul Brenner Westworld. Cowboys, aliens, laser guns, the only things missing are ninjas and dinosaurs.

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Oaklee D

@ODie63 Oct 14

Any film about Cowboys & Aliens should never take itself as seriously as this does, it becomes a chore to sit through as a result.

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Cowboys & Aliens: Trailer 1

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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: Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Scott Mitchell Rosenberg
Screenwriter: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, 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

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