Cowboys & Aliens

Theatrical Release Date: 2008 (USA) / 2011 07 29 (USA) / 2011 08 09 (USA - IMAX)

UPC: 025192074776

Studio: Universal Studios

MPAA Rating: PG13   Contains:[Brief Nudity, Adult Language, Sci-Fi Violence, Western Violence]

Summary: Based on the graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Cowboys & Aliens is set in 1800s Arizona, where the local cowboys, headed by gunslinger Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig), and the indigenous Apache tribe have been feuding fiercely for quite a while. Their skirmish is interrupted, however, by the appearance of a spaceship, commanded by an alien creature that's bent on enslaving the human race. It's time for a six-gun shoot-out between these cattle rustlers and space invaders, and there might even be a temporary peace between the cowboys and Indians as they both take aim at these extraterrestrial uninvited guests. Jon Favreau directs from a script by Star Trek scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, with help from Lost's Damon Lindelof. Olivia Wilde, Harrison Ford, and Sam Rockwell fill out the headlining cast. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

Category: Western

Awards: Best Art Direction in a Fantasy Film – Art Directors Guild

Features: Finding the story
Outer-space icon
The scope of the spectacle
Feature commentary with director Jon Favreau

Cowboys & Aliens

Format: DVD

Release Date: 12/06/2011

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 2.40:1

Audio: DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo, DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 119 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,Spanish,French

Subtitles: French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Cowboys & Aliens
1. Chapter 1 [7:38]
2. Chapter 2 [6:57]
3. Chapter 3 [7:14]
4. Chapter 4 [5:23]
5. Chapter 5 [10:00]
6. Chapter 6 [5:45]
7. Chapter 7 [4:42]
8. Chapter 8 [4:52]
9. Chapter 9 [3:38]
10. Chapter 10 [2:57]
11. Chapter 11 [3:06]
12. Chapter 12 [4:35]
13. Chapter 13 [5:44]
14. Chapter 14 [5:42]
15. Chapter 15 [7:31]
16. Chapter 16 [4:08]
17. Chapter 17 [3:29]
18. Chapter 18 [6:08]
19. Chapter 19 [6:36]
20. Chapter 20 [7:39]

Jason Buchanan

At first glance, the concept of combining a traditional Western with an alien invasion film may seem far too silly to ever work, yet director Jon Favreau and his small army of screenwriters make Cowboys & Aliens feel as natural as a whiskey-fueled bar brawl. Although the sci-fi element is evident from its opening scene, this satisfying hybrid stays true to Western conventions with a fidelity that might surprise audiences, thanks to the fact that the filmmakers find the perfect connective material to seamlessly fuse the archetypes of both science fiction and the Old West. Awakening in the unforgiving Arizona desert with no memory of who he is or where he's from, a bewildered cowboy (Daniel Craig) realizes he's badly wounded, and discovers a mysterious high-tech bracelet affixed to his left wrist. Subsequently wandering into a once-prosperous mining town, the stranger is patched up by sympathetic priest Meacham (Clancy Brown) before incurring the wrath of entitled, impetuous rancher's son Percy Dollarhyde (Paul Dano), whose powerful father, Woodrow (Harrison Ford), practically owns the depressed outpost. Almost as soon as the mysterious newcomer earns the respect of the locals for standing up to Percy, who wounds a deputy while intimidating the townspeople, he's identified as wanted bandit Jake Lonergan by Sheriff John Taggart (Keith Carradine) and thrown in jail. That night, just as Sheriff Taggart prepares to ship Percy and Jake off to court, Woodrow rides into town determined to free his son. Before he can do so, however, alien spaceships set the settlement ablaze while snatching locals -- including Percy -- up into the sky. In the process, Jake uses his bracelet to take down one of the alien spacecrafts. Momentarily putting their differences aside to rescue their kin from the extraterrestrial invaders, Jake, Woodrow, his ranch hand Nat (Adam Beach), bartender Doc (Sam Rockwell), enigmatic beauty Ella (Olivia Wilde), and a fistful of other locals begin tracking the creature that escaped the downed craft, and quickly find that hostile Native American tribes are the least of their worries. For a film like Cowboys & Aliens to work, each leg of its title must be strong enough to support the weight of the outlandish concept. Anyone familiar with the Iron Man films already knows that director Jon Favreau has a natural knack for sci-fi, and thanks to a tense, expertly shot three-on-one fight that opens Cowboys & Aliens, we can confidently surmise that his talents extend to the Western genre as well. With the mysterious drifter, the hard-drinking priest, the hair-trigger bully, the brutish rancher, and the barroom beauty all making appearances early in the film, some might accuse Favreau of kowtowing to Western stereotypes. The more the plot begins to play out, however, the clearer it becomes that these aren't stereotypes but archetypes, and the writers are smartly using their moral ambiguity to keep the audience off balance as the mystery of the main plot builds. This approach is especially effective in the case of Ford's character, Woodrow Dolarhyde -- a feared local figure whose complex true nature gradually comes into focus along with the true intentions of the malevolent aliens. And while it would have been simple to merely replace the hostile aliens of the traditional Western with a foreign threat from beyond the stars, the writers of Cowboys & Aliens make it clear that they're not simply painting by numbers when our posse crosses paths with a decimated tribe and the two groups unite in order to conquer a common threat -- which is made genuinely frightening thanks to both an unsettling creature design and a tense scene that echoes films like Communion and Fire in the Sky as it plays on our darkest fears of alien abduction. The fact that the aliens are not only hideous to behold but ferocious and lightning fast as well makes the struggle against them all the more intense. But while the direction and screenwriting combine to make Cowboys & Aliens wildly entertaining, it's the talented cast that might help to draw in more skeptical viewers -- and thankfully they're all shooting straight here. Craig is appropriately stoic as the amnesiac stranger who drifts into the small town; Ford is captivatingly complex as the wealthy rancher who isn't the sadist he initially appears to be; and Rockwell lends the poker-faced proceedings a subtle dose of comic relief as the bespectacled barkeep who just wants a little respect in his rough-and-tumble town. So, to moviegoers who appreciate a good genre mash-up and a good time at the flicks: saddle up, because Cowboys & Aliens is just the kind of wild ride that makes the summer movie season the most fun time of the year. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Jon Favreau  Director 
Jon Favreau  Executive Producer 
Brian Grazer  Producer 
Ron Howard  Producer 
Steven Spielberg  Executive Producer 
Denis L. Stewart  Executive Producer 
Harry Gregson-Williams  Composer (Music Score) 
Bobby Cohen  Executive Producer 
Alex Kurtzman  Producer 
Alex Kurtzman  Screenwriter 
Roberto Orci  Producer 
Roberto Orci  Screenwriter 
Ryan Kavanaugh  Executive Producer 
Damon Lindelof  Screenwriter 
Mark Fergus  Screenwriter 
Hawk Ostby  Screenwriter 
Scott Mitchell Rosenberg  Producer 
Randy Greenberg  Executive Producer 
Daniel Craig  Actor 
Olivia Wilde  Actor 
Harrison Ford  Actor 
Sam Rockwell  Actor 
Paul Dano  Actor 
Adam Beach  Actor 
Noah Ringer  Actor 
Abigail Spencer  Actor 
Brendan Wayne  Actor 
Buck Taylor  Actor 
Matt Taylor  Actor 
Jimmy Jatho  Actor 
Cooper Taylor  Actor 
Clancy Brown  Actor 
Kenny Call  Actor 
Chris Browning  Actor 
Julio Cedillo  Actor 
Ana de la Reguera  Actor 
Garret James Noel  Actor 
Brian Duffy  Actor 
Keith Carradine  Actor 
Gavin Grazer  Actor 
Toby Huss  Actor 
Wyatt Russell  Actor 
Raoul Trujillo  Actor 
David Midthunder  Actor 
Walton Goggins  Actor 
Moses Brings Plenty  Actor 
Phillip Pike  Actor 
Paul Ortega  Actor 
David O'Hara  Actor 
Troy M. Gilbert  Actor 
Nathaniel Chee  Actor 
Robyn Simmons  Actor 
Chad Randall  Actor 
Simon Choneska  Actor 
Scout Hendrickson  Actor 
David Chee  Actor 
Vonda Tso  Actor 
Lariat Geronimo  Actor 
Freddie Apache  Actor 
Calum Blaylock  Actor 
Oliver Enjady  Actor 
Hoyle Osborne  Actor 
Rex Rideout  Actor 

Country: USA