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I actually liked this movie when it came out. I mean, how often do you get James Bond & Indiana Jones together in a movie? Plus, it did the primative Humans vs. Aliens who want gold story way better than Battlefield Earth.
I actually liked this movie when it came out. I mean, how often do you get James Bond & Indiana Jones together in a movie? Plus, it did the primative Humans vs. Aliens who want gold story way better than Battlefield Earth.
I liked it too, only issue I had was with the ending when the hot town girl suddenly is an alien all along - might be slightly wrong it's been a while since I watched it.
Your point about the aliens is spot on. I don’t think the creators knew what they wanted these aliens to be or what skill set they had which is why they are so inconsistent. If the aliens were small, but used tech to dominate the battlefield, they would have actually been pretty unique to aliens in other media. I think the movie would have been much better with aliens using the weapons against the humans in very western style shootouts. Of course the aliens should have also had enough advantages with their tech that they were a huge threat to the humans. The gold would have been easy to use for the aliens. The circuitry their tech uses be made out of gold, iron and a few other metals. The aliens coming to Earth to harvest gold, show the gold being used to make their tech and the audience would instantly understand what they were doing even if the characters didn’t.
Oooh, how about the gun's fuel is gold? That way it is easier to see why the aliens need gold so much, and you can get conflict with that as the gun watch can only be used after getting enough gold, a scarce resource, and justify when and how you use it
@@cardescomedioses3674 gold is nonreactive, it wouldn't make sense to use it as fuel or ammo. It would be better if they needed it for some sort of advanced tech, but it would be difficult to make it feel logical. Coming to Earth for gold is pretty weird, really. It's pretty common and could be mined from multiple locations that don't have gun-toting humans.
I find this movie as a kind of guilty pleasure, im fully aware of its flaws and the logical failures it needs to do in order to allow the plot to exist, but at the same time i do like what it showcase and the concept itself is not as insane and incompatible as some people might think, it just needed better writting. Also i love how the alien Daniel Craig fights at the end looks a lot like a Hell Knight from Doom 3.
Same here. "Guilty pleasure" is how I feel about it as well. Cowboys & Aliens is no blockbuster, but it does have it's moments. Also, there was a huge supporting cast that were every bit as good at bringing their characters to life compared to Ford and Craig. This movie is slowly becoming a cult classic. I'm glad to see that happening.
A few days after watching this movie, a friend and I were in a store and we saw the soundtrack for cowboys vs aliens on sale. My friend said "was there music to go with that movie?" Then we looked at each other, laughed, and she said "Was there movie to go with that movie? "
Back in the day of Netflix mailing DVDs to your home, I picked this one and after watching it during family movie night, it was deemed I was no longer allowed to pick the movies without confirming it with someone else first.
Any time I read "watching this as a kid" in the comments I feel very old. This movie came out like yesterday. And if you want to say that 2011 was a long time ago, you just prove my point.
This goes back to the basic issue of motivation. Jack Sparrow is motivation incarnate and figuring out what was motivating him was part of the mystery. Jason Bourne was motivated by the mystery of who he was with cryptic clues to start the journey so we were invested in finding out who he was. I can't even remember Daniel Craig's character's name because he just kinda spawned into the world and then hobbled from one plot point to another like a video game. Ouch I'm hurt, guess I'll find a doctor. That would have been far more intriguing to us if despite his wound there was something that he wanted MORE than that. What if Craig's character had remembered who he was, and spent the entire movie working towards that, but refused to tell people (like Jack Sparrow)? That would have been far more compelling. "What does he care more about than the bleeding hole in his side?" "Why does he seem to have this alien wrist band, and know how to use it but didn't know it could run out of ammo (or something like that)?" That would have been far more compelling than "ouch I'm hurt, guess I'll find a doctor" and "oh the wrist band deus-ex-machina'd the hero out of a hole, then went away for most of the rest of the movie."
Valid point. The writers were more interested in the concept then the actual characters. It's the kinda movie JJ Abrams would make. Competent, entertaining enough with cool ideas but nothing truly original and has no deeper meaning. Side note, always bugged me that Daniel Craig's character had the same wrist size and the hulking alien monstrosities.
I think a big problem with the film is that there was no creative vision to serve as it's foundation. The movie started off as a pitch by a suit in the indie comics scene who has aspirations to be a Hollywood big shot. He hastily threw together a graphic novel to get his pitch out of development hell because Hollywood at the time was jumping at any chance to make films based on a graphic novels.
I remember watching this and being like « yeah it’s not bad, but there’s something off that makes it not great either ». Thanks for helping me put a finger on it.
They had the chance to do something really interesting with the parallel of aliens invading our world and the Westerners invading the Natives' world, but they just... didn't.
What's even funnier is that if the aliens want gold that badly, there is way more to be found in the asteroid belt than there is on Earth. Enough to make all the gold on Earth practically worthless.
@@mackinblack I don't know that. NASA knows that. And if you're a space-faring civilization, yeah, it's easier. Once gravity is no longer a problem, mining is basically no more arduous than plucking feathers.
I would have the bracelet play more of a part. 1: like Filmento said it helps him escape after waking up 2: When in the town and those ruffians stir up trouble the bracelet kick up again. 3: the aliens are tracking the bracelet.
In the making of this movie, there were just too many voices not agreeing on specifics. Too many great content creatures, either a director, visual artists, or writers. Too many great ideas stuffed into one thing to the point there were no more room for specifics and personality of characters. They never had the chance to focus on one thing long enough for us to care
My absolute favorite thing about this movie was when it came out, all the tinfoilers started preaching that the movie was warning us that aliens put us here to mine gold and be raised as food and the illuminati, government(s), and all celebrities/political elite were in on it. Love living on this timeline lol.
Having seen this analysis, I think this movie can be made much better in terms of aliens by making one small change: there are two separate species - one that is weak, smart, technological and hideous, and the other that are mindless brutes. And to add a twist at the end of the movie - reveal that the brutes are actually mutated kidnapped humans. I'm not a professional writer, but I think those little changes would have turned C&A from a passive average to a pretty solid sci-fi, even with other plot flaws.
It's twice as disappointing when a movie with an original concept is just "okay", because you know that concept won't be used again and was just wasted.
I remember three things from this film: the aliens blasting the village, the battle at the end, and Daniel Craig saying “We FLEW!”. That was the most realistic moment in the film and kind of refreshing. Other than that I could never put my finger on why I wasn’t an enthralled with it after I left the theatre, and I cannot tell you my excitement when it popped up you were dissecting this. Thank you!
the studio heard of "space western", decided to make one and it was too far into production when someone told them it didn't actually mean what they thought it meant
I remember watching this on cable years ago and being surprised at how boring it was. Daniel Craig didn't seem like a good choice for the role and Harrison Ford just phoned it in. I honestly had no idea so much behind the scenes talent was involved until I watched this video; that's just crazy. Anyway, great summary as always.
This plagues every industry. The music industry because many songs in the top 50 at any given point has 5 or more songwriters, not counting the actual members in the group. Soulless bops. All star teams in sports suffer because at every given moment multiple people need to be playing support rather than setting themselves up to shine. It can never be more than the sum of its parts, a necessity in art.
Or comic books, where a finished page is the work of up to five people (writer, penciller, inker, colorist and editor, unless someone does multiple roles) because they need to be finished so quickly. If one of them is not in sync with the vision of the rest of the team it can seriously ruin a great comic.
The thing I remember the most about this movie was that Favreau did a collab with youtuber FreddieW to promote the movie. He brought Freddie and his crew to the set, let him use the props, and even starred in the youtube video with them. Just the fact that the A list powerhouse Jon Favreau was a guest on a youtube channel (way before youtube was taken seriously) was memorable than the movie itself.
I guess the lesson of this movie is: It happens that when you have a mediocre writer you end up with a mediocre screenplay but when you stuff a room full of mediocre writers you end up with a bad screenplay.
A friend of mine worked on the story board of Cowboys and Aliens, he said it was the worse experience ever because they kept having him redraw panels and redraw scenes last minute and so often it ended up being worse than stick figures just to keep up
I went and saw this in theatres when I was 8, and watched it again years later as an adult. It reminds me a lot of Bay’s Transformers series in a big way: the basic, unoriginal aspects aren’t as memorable as the big action scenes, especially the final battle. The action is so bombastic at times, it scrubs the brain of the more bland aspects.
I personally disagree with the beginning part of the video because I think it is supposed to be a juxtaposition kind of thing. The start is supposed to be a generic cowboy movie in order for the aliens showing up to completely upend expectations. The bracelet keeps the audience hooked in during the first act because they want to know why this generic cowboy in the generic western has a high tch bracelet. It is obviously not executed best as the movie is literally titled Cowboys vs. Aliens and I do agree with you for every other point you mentioned.
You know how they could've fixed the aliens with minimal changes? Make them more like the Combine instead of all one species: Have the dumb, brutish enemies be a species assimilated in order to be used for their melee combat. Have the humans kidnapped also be a result of assimilation instead of just turning them to dust. Gold could just be a resource they're extracting, maybe even just one of multiple, and blowing up cows could just be them trying to starve and weaken the humans. There are ways they could've had this make sense, but instead they decided to wing it and hope nobody asks questions as to why they're doing this.
There's a golden rule in all good screen writing and cinema. Let the audience draw their own conclusions, don't over-explain and proclaim the audience idiots and above all don't explain things which couldn't/shouldn't be explained. This can be summarized with: 1. Leave it a mystery because what isn't explained is scarier. People fear what they don't understand. 2. Leave it a mystery because *some things are irrelevant to the story itself and doesn't affect the narrative* . The big picture. 3. Leave it a mystery because some things can't be explained without it sounding *incredibly silly* . "Have the dumb, brutish enemies be a species assimilated in order to be used for their melee combat. " Well, isn't this already explained in the film with the alien lady saying that what they're dealing with is just simple scouts, the same of which are found elsewhere on other planets these aliens have visited. She also says that since these aliens don't consider humans even a slight threat so they neither arrived in great numbers nor brought equipment for any confrontation or war. Why would an advanced race even need to assimilate other alien races? They're not Egyptian pharaohs who need millions of slaves to do all their chores and a labor workforce. At a time there weren't any machines doing all the hard labor and chores conquerors needed to assimilate, enslave or "pacify" the locals. "Have the humans kidnapped also be a result of assimilation instead of just turning them to dust" And again this humans assimilated by aliens thing belongs in the 1950's when alien invasion movies were just an allegory for the red scare, and people feared their neighbor who didn't talk to them might be an assimilated Soviet spy or something. "They are already among you, you're next!" The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a perfect example. And if you've never heard of it, well pardon me this proves your ignorance of film history and the themes of different eras. Again, in the film the alien lady clearly explains the aliens don't consider humans a threat and are but annoying, little insects they think nothing of. WHY would you need to assimilate such a species? You're adding a layer of paranoia *which isn't needed in this film and isn't part of its narrative* They also didn't just turn to dust. The aliens inserted some tubes into the captured humans and drained them of their fluids and nutrients which the aliens themselves need to sustain something. Humans are therefore harvested as a source of readily available energy. Those who aren't needed at the moment are put in a state of suspended animation or whatever it was to be harvested later. "Gold could just be a resource they're extracting" Well, isn't that also explained in the film. The aliens need the gold and it's as precious to them as it is to humans. Exactly WHY and WHAT they use the gold for is irrelevant to the story, and also to the humans on the receiving end of their horror. "maybe even just one of multiple" Keep it nice and simple. Brilliance has its core in its simplicity. You don't need 5 narratives for a thing which could be explained by one. "and blowing up cows could just be them trying to starve and weaken the humans. " Exceptionally stupid. Again, *why* would they try to starve and weaken humans when they're clearly not even slightly bothered by them or consider them a remote threat? When they can fly in and take whatever they want without any problems why would they try to starve and weaken humans? When they see humans the same way humans see worms why bother with something utterly pointless? Again you're reasoning like human conquerors of the past reasoned. In a siege of a city you could make sure no food got in. The Vandals tore down Roman aqueducts knowing full well that those cities would fall with no water flowing into them. Hence the word vandalism btw. And why does this "blowing up the cows" totally minor event even need to be explained?? Why the aliens just shot up the cows and the cowboys probably was some casual target practice or them enjoying themselves. Who cares? Why does this detail need to be explained at all? "There are ways they could've had this make sense" Sigh. You don't get it. Sci-fi generally falls in two brackets. One is the intelligent sci-fi which generally doesn't involve aliens at all but if it does focuses on the general theme and lessons and not frickin' details! The other bracket is the adventure extravaganza. High on entertainment value but generally illogical and dumb. It's pure escapism. Switch your brain off and enjoy the ride. Only a fool would try to make sense of it or superimpose his/her own warped/myopic/infantile interpretation on it all. Cowboys & Aliens falls in the latter category. A ragtag bunch of humans facing dangerous aliens and triumphing in the end against all odds. That's the story. In the case of this movie you also missed the underlying themes of children growing up to face what it means to be an adult, different cultures siding their differences when they face a common enemy who don't see that difference at all and how greed is a destructive force (Craig's gunslinger train robber, Ford's greedy cattleman who owns the town and also the aliens). You miss all that because you're pre-occupied wanting explanations why the aliens blew up cows. For real. "but instead they decided to wing it and hope nobody asks questions as to why they're doing this." Listen. Only idiots ask questions about this. Only autistic fools get upset over minor details and completely miss the story, narrative and underlying themes. Worst of all, only complete cretins want such things explained and come up with their own absurd explanations. Guess what that makes you? Alfred Hitchcock never explained why all the birds suddenly started attacking human in The Birds. He knew that there was no way of explaining this without it sounding silly, that it wasn't even needed or pondered by the protagonists of the story and them trying to survive and that above all it was best left to the audience. This is why he was a great film maker and you are... (best not to speculate here)
Man just wrote a multi-page paragraph for a suggestion just to say "It's only a movie, it doesn't need to have an explanation, just turn your brain off" like that'll satisfy me or my curiosity. Not to mention it was stated by Hitchcock himself in regards to The Birds that "they wanted to exact revenge against humanity for taking nature for granted" according to a book written by Paglia, and he created the movie after being partly inspired by an event where hordes of seabirds started dive-bombing homes. This means this Hitchcock analogy doesn't even work as even that had an explanation. Not to mention that the movie doesn't explain a lot as shown by this rant, and I'm not afraid due to not knowing, just very confused. This multi-paragraph fluff is just full of holes, and really only stands to be more insulting than informative, with the only reason I'm not breaking it apart being because I really don't want to bother. Also as a side note, love how this guy states that the reason for them extracting gold is explained in the film, and then states there's no explanation because it's irrelevant to the story. "They do it because it's precious to them" is NOT an explanation, because why the hell else would they go out of their way to come to a planet just to extract a metal. WHY would they bother to do it is the question, and not knowing isn't making this any scarier.
Seems to me that the Aliens having so many specializations is the writers' way of closing off other, too obvious avenues and focus on the weakness (or weaknesses) they have written an exploit for. These specializations were also used as "hard obstacles" that the hero has to find ways to bypass (thus maintain tension in the action scenes). I kinda liked this movie, but there was nothing deep in it. I've seen it 2-3 times but with lessened interest every time. It's kinda lame in the end. Everything is superficial only.
i clearly remember it... but somehow only that in the end there was a humming bird and I asked my parents why a humming bird was in the desert... they just answered: "thats your problem? not the aliens?!?" ... and now humming bird is a short hand in our family for "dont question it, just enjoy the movie!" XD
I remember I watched this movie and, yeah, it didn't give me a last impression, the too many cooks problem. But after watching, I thought of a way it could be improved: in the first scene where Daniel Craig gets rid of the bountyhunters, make him make a mistake and let the last bountyhunter almost kill him; and then the bountyhunter's just explodes and when Craig sees, he just sees a weird man with a big coat and a hat that just goes away. Then, stuff happens and this weird man is following him or in the background, then it's revealed he's also an alien. Like, there's a lot of comedy potential, like the alien just waltzes into the bar, everyone points gun at him, but he just drinks earth drinks and laughs, so make in a way that they don't understand him, but they understand that he's not with the other aliens, plus Craig has a blood debt with him. Then, when the confrontation happens, the weird alien and Craig join forces and he learns that the weird alien is a space sheriff that wants to get rid of this, so making it also a western from the aliens' perspective. You can add something like the weird alien having a beef with the villains, but I feel it'd make something different, a bit less the same as more established westerns.
20:36 also, if they want gold there is loads more gold in the asteroid belt (estimated 340 billion tons) than on Earth (humans have mined about 240,000 tons of gold on Earth).
Great video, you make great points, and I specially agree with the second one. I didn't watch it in theaters, but when I did, I saw nothing that hadn't been done: - Daniel Craig as a badass? James Bond. - A hot mysterious woman guiding the protagonist? Fury of the Titans. - A grumpy, badass Harrison Ford? Yes. - A film featuring aliens before our current time? There are many, but Outlander came in 2008 so close enough. The very reason I didn't watch it back when it was in cinemas was because it looked like an excuse to make a film, because it looked like a silly movie made gritty needlessly (hey, grit in movies, Nolan's Batman). Even the title looks inspired by B movies. This film feels uninspired. Not saying that the examples I mentioned were the only ones (or the best examples) in which this characteristics appear. Just want to make the point that the film felt unnecessary, and a silly idea. And to be fair, I love those characteristics in the examples I mentioned (sincerely, Outlander is my guilty pleasure).
I think this is the easiest to fix movie I've ever watched from your review. If only the bracelet have more consequences when the user didn't figured out how it works asap
The main issue is the name of the movie. Showing they put so little thought into the title that it perfectly represents how little effort into the story. I apparently perfectly judged the book by its cover. Never saw this.
I would love to order your book, but I only see a Kindle option :( I remember you talked about getting a physical copy up soon- is that still in the works?
You can email me for the PDF (explained in the description) as of now. I'm still trying to figure out how to get the margins right on Amazon on the physical version. And I'm working on a better cover for the physical as well. Thanks for watching and for waiting.
No, lie. I love this movie. I love cowboys and i'm a fallout fan, so the film was awesome to me but i understand i'm a small demographic. I've actually watched this film many times and still enjoy it.
Yep. To me the key to a good movie is that you can enjoy watching it many times. Sure, C&A is not perfect but I love rewatching it, which is more than I can say for many supposed classics.
I think an issue with the aliens wanting gold is that taking gold is not really... that emotionally important to viewers. Like I think it'd be a cool tidbit, esp with other comments mentioning the use in electronics, but mining gold is one of those things that'd affect the people very little. Where as if the aliens were to take/destroy important resources/pollute the water/terraform the area, etc that'd cause kids and elderly get sick or something, that viewers would more easier be emotionally connected to, or then actually concentrate on the human experimentation. Same with the bracelet, its one of those things where even if it doesnt do much, imagine if the bracelet was made of space-gold, and the main character then would have to get into trouble because everyone would be our to cut their hand off to steal it. The Aladdin thing at the end was kinda fitting as Genie is a great example on how you can use a limited-use-plot-macguffin that still affects the movie by entertainingly bothering the characters. This bracelet feels a bit like the original Aladdin retellings where the genie exists just to grant the wishes, and its fine... for a 15 minute story/animation.
This is such a good point. They could have had the aliens bring death and debilitating disease instead of just blowing stuff up. It would have been a mirror of how white settlers brought death and disease to the indigenous Americans. Only now you could have the white settlers align with the indigenous Americans to fight off the aliens. It certainly would have been more emotionally impactful and have more of a lasting message besides “money”.
I remember watching this when it came out on DVD. I remember my friends and I going “This should be awesome! Why is it lame?” And that’s all I remember haha
This could be compared to Sin City in terms of behind the scene talent and both based off of comic books. You got Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez and Quintin Tarantino. That movie was a Success and very memorable. Guess it comes down to them all having a similar vision? I remember hearing Steven Spielberg and Jon Favreau both like westerns. Maybe they tried to be too true to the genre? Jon did redeem himself with the Mandalorian season 1.
I remember seeing previews from this movie and my brother and I thought the premise was so dumb that we absolutely had to see it. Went in expecting nothing and actually kind of enjoyed it since it dared to take itself seriously. I'm a lot more critical now so I might not be able to turn off my brain enough to enjoy a rewatch, however.
I have to say when I watched the movie I was just a kid and kids generally will like anything that has Aliens in the title, but with a name like that I thought that watching it today I'd see it as a generic dumb movie, and I was really surprised about how much I enjoyed it, to the point that I find it even better than the last time all those years ago
From this video I feel like I'd have enjoyed this if I'd actually watched it when it was released (because I was 15) but I never did because the lazy movie title made it sound so bad...
16:50 It's really rare for aliens in Hollywood films to be physically weaker than humans, usually a single alien has super powers on top of their technology.
It was a fun movie for me, especially since I love Thirteen (I can't say I love Wilde as an actor, but I always hope she'll have as good role as that), but when I watched it on TV I felt it was something that should be a 50M film. Maybe effects would be slightly worse, but I think it would have a better chance to succeed
I like the concept but the execution was so bland. I'd love to see a horror version, with a sort of western gothic flavor like Bone Tomahawk that starts as a gritty western, introduce the characters like that. Then you have some super creepy aliens come in and go from there. Realism is the key, and to have the characters react properly to seeing these terrifying aliens. And of course everyone dies in the end.
I agree with the criticisms Filmento leveled at this movie, but I think there's an important caveat worth considering: Most of us didn't come into this movie expecting it to be great cinema, we expected kitschy action schlock, and as far as kitschy action schlock goes I think Cowboys versus Aliens holds its own. It wasn't necessarily a *good* movie, but it was pretty fun, I enjoyed myself.
I never understand that viewpoint. Aliens, Terminator 2, Robocop, Die Hard, etc. are action schlock and great cinema at the same time, it can clearly be done, so why give movies that don't even try a pass just because they tick the "action" box? Well written story is the single most important aspect of even the schlockiest of movies.
@@jranimations5955not every film has to be a cinematic masterpiece. The point is to entertain. This movie was quite entertaining regardless of its flaws. As such the movie was a success because it did what it was supposed to. I thought that point was rather obvious given the original comment
@@nnnp634 Given you cant read it makes sense why you made this response. Nit being a financial success doesnt mean the movie didnt succeed in its intent.....which is to entertain.
Cowboys vs Aliens is one of those movies that are amazing but not that great, its a nice movie to watch every now and then but not worth the special shiny shelf for but more of a drawer stashed movie
Why would they need Gold if they have spaceships? There are asteroids known to us that have so much fucking gold that they're more valuable than the whole Earth economy. Super easy to mine as well, compared to finding it on a Rocky planet.
I liked this movie and the human abduction/vivisection scene was superior was surprisingly hard hitting That few seconds of a husband watching his wife get gutted alive? Like damn, I did not expect that and it scarred me lol
I think that a lot of movies like this one, and I would say "Waterworld" among others, tend to suffer from being "good, but not $369,000,000,001.99 good;" and because this (perfectly fun) movie flops at the box office, people remember it (unfairly) as being terrible.
This was the most boring film to see in theaters. The story was boring, the characters were boring, the action was boring, and it was either boring desert or WAY too dark to see anything.
It was so boring in fact Quentin Tarantino took the word "Cowboy" from Cowboys & Aliens and combined it with word "Black" makes the creation of Django: Unchained and it bombs more than this movie.
Important lesson to be learned from that movie is the balance between practical effects and cgi. Naturally you need cgi for giant robots fighting giant monsters, but del Toro uses as much practical effects as possible. I hope they make a sequel one day, Pacific Rim is amazing
I have a real soft spot for this movie, and while I can see why it wasn't as popular as they wanted, I really loved it. I think people wanted more aliens and less cowboys, but to me letting the western elements take the lead was part of the charm. I also think that having having the two opening segments of the fight with the bounty hunters and the conversation with the doctor be pure western trope was a deliberate choice. The movie starts like any western, and stays that way, almost pure western, until the alien ship shows up in town.
@@ddc2957 - Well, thankfully not everyone in the world has the same tastes. Would be a dull place if we all did. I also love David Lynch’s “Dune”: another flawed classic that I rewatch regularly. Doesn’t work so well as a story but the sets are so beautifully designed and atmospheric that I’m instantly transported to another universe - the prerequisite for any successful sci-fi.
I actually enjoyed this film! I dont think it needed specific anything. I liked the tiny mystery of the armband till its a (predictable) weapon and when it was used, more rewarding than the start. I think using big name producers was just as much marketing as trying to make a polished product. But all in all, I think making a concept as unique as this is more intended to be a fun movie, not overanalysed and shot down for not being the next original cinemaverse.
I feel like if you want to make a fun movie with a strange premise, it would have been better to go all out and do some weird, cool things. It feels more like they wanted to play it safe, and made a movie that passes the grade of being okay, rather than risk going out of the box too much and risking a flop that would have ended up having a cult following.
Gold can also be found in abundance on some asteroids and planets compared to what earth has. So it would make sense for aliens to go there. But I agree that the aliens were not that impressive. They are supposed to be smart and scary as shown in some scenes in the movie but they end up as just very aggressive and attacking.
I watched this movie once. It felt like a movie that had been made as a quick cash grab for a genre craze, but there was no genre craze for it to be cash grabbing from.
For me, "Cowboys & Aliens," had a good premise and a star-studded cast, so it sucked that it fell short of my expectations. Despite big-name producers and a blend of sci-fi and Western tropes, the film's failure to utilize unique concepts creatively feels like a wasted opportunity. It is a lesson that's frustrating to see unheeded even by experienced professionals.
To be fair, aliens wanting gold makes perfect sense because gold is valuable for electronics and other advanced technologies, but cowboys wouldn't know that
@@imbaby5499Because other planets might not have it duh. Because we do. Duh. Because other planets dont necessarily have places to land and mine without putting them at risk? Any number of reasons explain this
@@SageOfLimitlessHands asteroids have gold (as well as other metals). That's how we got gold on earth in the first place, through asteroid collisions. Looking for gold on earth while you have reliable space travel is like looking for a needle in the Pacific Ocean.
@@SageOfLimitlessHands so do planets. Motion is relative, and mining asteroids is much easier than planets because of their smaller size and lack of any noticeable gravitational field. You need to waste energy to lift off a planet, and the more gold you have, the more energy you waste.
Personally speaking I don’t view this movie as a failure. This film was rather bad ass and a nice change of pace from what we where getting at the time. I own the Blu Ray.
With a name and premise that features cowboys having to fight against aliens.. it just seems too goofy to really interest me.. like Abraham Lincoln as a Vampire Hunter..
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Speaking about RDR, can you make The Last Of Us 2 video please?
You Should do a Video on Pacific Rim. You can cover whatever you want about it I just need a video on it.
I actually liked this movie when it came out. I mean, how often do you get James Bond & Indiana Jones together in a movie? Plus, it did the primative Humans vs. Aliens who want gold story way better than Battlefield Earth.
@@wrath7646the first pacific rim SLAPPED
@The.Nasty. Still one of my all time favorite movies
I actually liked this movie when it came out. I mean, how often do you get James Bond & Indiana Jones together in a movie? Plus, it did the primative Humans vs. Aliens who want gold story way better than Battlefield Earth.
It wasn't terrible. Watched it on blu ray and have good memories about it
I liked it too, only issue I had was with the ending when the hot town girl suddenly is an alien all along - might be slightly wrong it's been a while since I watched it.
@@Gidi66 that was stupid )) but expected
I liked it too!
"way better than Battlefield Earth" ... Is there a lower bar than that?
Your point about the aliens is spot on. I don’t think the creators knew what they wanted these aliens to be or what skill set they had which is why they are so inconsistent. If the aliens were small, but used tech to dominate the battlefield, they would have actually been pretty unique to aliens in other media. I think the movie would have been much better with aliens using the weapons against the humans in very western style shootouts. Of course the aliens should have also had enough advantages with their tech that they were a huge threat to the humans.
The gold would have been easy to use for the aliens. The circuitry their tech uses be made out of gold, iron and a few other metals. The aliens coming to Earth to harvest gold, show the gold being used to make their tech and the audience would instantly understand what they were doing even if the characters didn’t.
Or imagine if the aliens had also been like... alien cowboys, come to herd some human cattle and mine gold.
I kinda though thought the big aliens were exoskeletons?? Maybe im not remembering right
Oooh, how about the gun's fuel is gold? That way it is easier to see why the aliens need gold so much, and you can get conflict with that as the gun watch can only be used after getting enough gold, a scarce resource, and justify when and how you use it
not really, independence day did it already
@@cardescomedioses3674 gold is nonreactive, it wouldn't make sense to use it as fuel or ammo. It would be better if they needed it for some sort of advanced tech, but it would be difficult to make it feel logical.
Coming to Earth for gold is pretty weird, really. It's pretty common and could be mined from multiple locations that don't have gun-toting humans.
I find this movie as a kind of guilty pleasure, im fully aware of its flaws and the logical failures it needs to do in order to allow the plot to exist, but at the same time i do like what it showcase and the concept itself is not as insane and incompatible as some people might think, it just needed better writting. Also i love how the alien Daniel Craig fights at the end looks a lot like a Hell Knight from Doom 3.
Then you may want to check out the Doctor Who episode "A Town Called Mercy", it's the same concept done well.
Same
Me too! I know this movie sucks in many ways, but I love the premise and I think Daniel Craig rocks it.
(A Town Called Mercy is a great ep, andras!)
Same here. "Guilty pleasure" is how I feel about it as well. Cowboys & Aliens is no blockbuster, but it does have it's moments. Also, there was a huge supporting cast that were every bit as good at bringing their characters to life compared to Ford and Craig. This movie is slowly becoming a cult classic. I'm glad to see that happening.
@@Corinthians- hey hey hey hey, lets not get crazy cause Wild Wild West is a really fun movie.
Hollywood doesnt disappoint when it comes to disappointing
Well said. It is the thing they are most consistent in. Thats what makes actual incredible films so rare 😂
Lol
Look at the writers. Kurtzman destroyed Star Trek and Lindeloff did that god awful Watchmen series.
The movie started out good then it does get boring
@@cyberspirt it was complete paint by numbers now that you mention it. Looked like an old PlayStation game I would have played in the day.
A few days after watching this movie, a friend and I were in a store and we saw the soundtrack for cowboys vs aliens on sale. My friend said "was there music to go with that movie?" Then we looked at each other, laughed, and she said "Was there movie to go with that movie? "
She's funny😂
Back in the day of Netflix mailing DVDs to your home, I picked this one and after watching it during family movie night, it was deemed I was no longer allowed to pick the movies without confirming it with someone else first.
It still feels very strange when Filmento makes me aware of why I did not think much of a film.
"You might not have noticed, but your brain did."
This movie was a fever dream. I remember watching this as a kid feeling disappointed? First time I felt this way for a movie.
As a kid I sat down and repeatedly watched a myriad of movies - and looking back I’m not sure I even liked most of them.
Strange i saw it as a adult, and we family and friends who went to it (Cinema), liked it all.
Any time I read "watching this as a kid" in the comments I feel very old. This movie came out like yesterday. And if you want to say that 2011 was a long time ago, you just prove my point.
This movie completely disappeared from my memory, I only remembered it because of this video
this is such bullshit
This goes back to the basic issue of motivation. Jack Sparrow is motivation incarnate and figuring out what was motivating him was part of the mystery. Jason Bourne was motivated by the mystery of who he was with cryptic clues to start the journey so we were invested in finding out who he was. I can't even remember Daniel Craig's character's name because he just kinda spawned into the world and then hobbled from one plot point to another like a video game.
Ouch I'm hurt, guess I'll find a doctor. That would have been far more intriguing to us if despite his wound there was something that he wanted MORE than that. What if Craig's character had remembered who he was, and spent the entire movie working towards that, but refused to tell people (like Jack Sparrow)? That would have been far more compelling. "What does he care more about than the bleeding hole in his side?" "Why does he seem to have this alien wrist band, and know how to use it but didn't know it could run out of ammo (or something like that)?"
That would have been far more compelling than "ouch I'm hurt, guess I'll find a doctor" and "oh the wrist band deus-ex-machina'd the hero out of a hole, then went away for most of the rest of the movie."
Valid point. The writers were more interested in the concept then the actual characters. It's the kinda movie JJ Abrams would make. Competent, entertaining enough with cool ideas but nothing truly original and has no deeper meaning. Side note, always bugged me that Daniel Craig's character had the same wrist size and the hulking alien monstrosities.
I think a big problem with the film is that there was no creative vision to serve as it's foundation. The movie started off as a pitch by a suit in the indie comics scene who has aspirations to be a Hollywood big shot. He hastily threw together a graphic novel to get his pitch out of development hell because Hollywood at the time was jumping at any chance to make films based on a graphic novels.
I liked the graphic novel, they defined the aliens as space pirates which is more unique than most alien invasions
Mad respect for you on adding Red Dead Redemption elements throughout in this video.
One reason this video was late was because after I added those references I had to take out my 360 and start playing RDR
@@Filmento You're awesome.
@@Filmentoto be honest this could have been a really good dlc for Red Dead redemption 2.
Reply 5
@@Filmento wait a minute is the reason why you started replaying it is because you heard it was going to get a remake or remaster or something.
I remember watching this and being like « yeah it’s not bad, but there’s something off that makes it not great either ». Thanks for helping me put a finger on it.
They had the chance to do something really interesting with the parallel of aliens invading our world and the Westerners invading the Natives' world, but they just... didn't.
What's even funnier is that if the aliens want gold that badly, there is way more to be found in the asteroid belt than there is on Earth. Enough to make all the gold on Earth practically worthless.
Yeah but no one wants to make a crappy movie about that. Lol
Or even raiding the oceans...
How do you know there is so much gold in the asteroid belt? And is it easier to
To mine asteroids than it is a planet?
@@mackinblack I don't know that. NASA knows that. And if you're a space-faring civilization, yeah, it's easier. Once gravity is no longer a problem, mining is basically no more arduous than plucking feathers.
@@dars5229 ..and thanks for the scientific analogy there Carl Sagan
I would have the bracelet play more of a part.
1: like Filmento said it helps him escape after waking up
2: When in the town and those ruffians stir up trouble the bracelet kick up again.
3: the aliens are tracking the bracelet.
Point 3 is so obvious that just now I noticed that they weren't after it! LOL (I didn't watch the movie, just here for the learning)
The very concept behind this movie feels like something a 5 year old would come up with thinking its the craziest and coolest thing in the world.
In the making of this movie, there were just too many voices not agreeing on specifics. Too many great content creatures, either a director, visual artists, or writers. Too many great ideas stuffed into one thing to the point there were no more room for specifics and personality of characters. They never had the chance to focus on one thing long enough for us to care
Those damn creatures running everything!
I know what I said...
My absolute favorite thing about this movie was when it came out, all the tinfoilers started preaching that the movie was warning us that aliens put us here to mine gold and be raised as food and the illuminati, government(s), and all celebrities/political elite were in on it.
Love living on this timeline lol.
lmao, I feel like I don't spend enough time in the obscure parts of the internet
What u mean u love living on this timeline..?
Have u been on any other one? HUH?!?! ANSWER ME!
lol
it's all trooooooooooooooooo!
You believe in stupid shit like “timelines” but you don’t think aliens could possibly be farming humans?
Of course, there is this super secret powers in the shadows, that also are know enough to make a AAA movie about them.
Having seen this analysis, I think this movie can be made much better in terms of aliens by making one small change: there are two separate species - one that is weak, smart, technological and hideous, and the other that are mindless brutes. And to add a twist at the end of the movie - reveal that the brutes are actually mutated kidnapped humans.
I'm not a professional writer, but I think those little changes would have turned C&A from a passive average to a pretty solid sci-fi, even with other plot flaws.
That would've explain why the bracelet paired and worked on human.
This is genius. Well done.
You noticed this? This movie had a plot?
It's twice as disappointing when a movie with an original concept is just "okay", because you know that concept won't be used again and was just wasted.
I remember three things from this film: the aliens blasting the village, the battle at the end, and Daniel Craig saying “We FLEW!”. That was the most realistic moment in the film and kind of refreshing. Other than that I could never put my finger on why I wasn’t an enthralled with it after I left the theatre, and I cannot tell you my excitement when it popped up you were dissecting this. Thank you!
the studio heard of "space western", decided to make one and it was too far into production when someone told them it didn't actually mean what they thought it meant
I remember watching this on cable years ago and being surprised at how boring it was. Daniel Craig didn't seem like a good choice for the role and Harrison Ford just phoned it in. I honestly had no idea so much behind the scenes talent was involved until I watched this video; that's just crazy. Anyway, great summary as always.
This plagues every industry. The music industry because many songs in the top 50 at any given point has 5 or more songwriters, not counting the actual members in the group. Soulless bops. All star teams in sports suffer because at every given moment multiple people need to be playing support rather than setting themselves up to shine. It can never be more than the sum of its parts, a necessity in art.
Or comic books, where a finished page is the work of up to five people (writer, penciller, inker, colorist and editor, unless someone does multiple roles) because they need to be finished so quickly. If one of them is not in sync with the vision of the rest of the team it can seriously ruin a great comic.
The thing I remember the most about this movie was that Favreau did a collab with youtuber FreddieW to promote the movie. He brought Freddie and his crew to the set, let him use the props, and even starred in the youtube video with them. Just the fact that the A list powerhouse Jon Favreau was a guest on a youtube channel (way before youtube was taken seriously) was memorable than the movie itself.
I guess the lesson of this movie is: It happens that when you have a mediocre writer you end up with a mediocre screenplay but when you stuff a room full of mediocre writers you end up with a bad screenplay.
The seagulls from Finding Nemo screaming Mine, Mine, Mine with robotically filters is so funny 😂
Also the alien wearing gold at the end
The sad thing is this movie was actually quite entertaining. Me and my dad saw it in theatres as a joke and had so much fun
Pretty bad movie. Paul Dano and Olivia Wylde were the only good things in it and they are in other movies that are actually GOOD
@@worsethanhitlerpt.2539 Better than anything you could conceive of ever. Everyone did fine.
@@SageOfLimitlessHandsBro are you 5?
@@SageOfLimitlessHands that is some seriously stupid take, buddy... how embarrassing
@themug406 Bro are you? What kind of idiotic response is that?
New Filmento video: Oh
An anatomy of a failure video: Great
About a movie I like: Wait, what?
A friend of mine worked on the story board of Cowboys and Aliens, he said it was the worse experience ever because they kept having him redraw panels and redraw scenes last minute and so often it ended up being worse than stick figures just to keep up
I honestly thought i dreamt this movie. My reasoning was it was too dumb to actually exist.
I keep underestimating Hollywood.
I thought the concept was pretty interesting but when i watched it, it was like they only did the bare minimum with it
I went and saw this in theatres when I was 8, and watched it again years later as an adult. It reminds me a lot of Bay’s Transformers series in a big way: the basic, unoriginal aspects aren’t as memorable as the big action scenes, especially the final battle. The action is so bombastic at times, it scrubs the brain of the more bland aspects.
I personally disagree with the beginning part of the video because I think it is supposed to be a juxtaposition kind of thing. The start is supposed to be a generic cowboy movie in order for the aliens showing up to completely upend expectations. The bracelet keeps the audience hooked in during the first act because they want to know why this generic cowboy in the generic western has a high tch bracelet. It is obviously not executed best as the movie is literally titled Cowboys vs. Aliens and I do agree with you for every other point you mentioned.
I saw it in the theater, and remember being reasonably entertained, but I remember almost nothing else. It's kind of concerning, actually.
You know how they could've fixed the aliens with minimal changes? Make them more like the Combine instead of all one species: Have the dumb, brutish enemies be a species assimilated in order to be used for their melee combat. Have the humans kidnapped also be a result of assimilation instead of just turning them to dust. Gold could just be a resource they're extracting, maybe even just one of multiple, and blowing up cows could just be them trying to starve and weaken the humans. There are ways they could've had this make sense, but instead they decided to wing it and hope nobody asks questions as to why they're doing this.
There's a golden rule in all good screen writing and cinema.
Let the audience draw their own conclusions, don't over-explain and proclaim the audience idiots and above all don't explain things which couldn't/shouldn't be explained.
This can be summarized with:
1. Leave it a mystery because what isn't explained is scarier. People fear what they don't understand.
2. Leave it a mystery because *some things are irrelevant to the story itself and doesn't affect the narrative* . The big picture.
3. Leave it a mystery because some things can't be explained without it sounding *incredibly silly* .
"Have the dumb, brutish enemies be a species assimilated in order to be used for their melee combat. " Well, isn't this already explained in the film with the alien lady saying that what they're dealing with is just simple scouts, the same of which are found elsewhere on other planets these aliens have visited. She also says that since these aliens don't consider humans even a slight threat so they neither arrived in great numbers nor brought equipment for any confrontation or war. Why would an advanced race even need to assimilate other alien races? They're not Egyptian pharaohs who need millions of slaves to do all their chores and a labor workforce. At a time there weren't any machines doing all the hard labor and chores conquerors needed to assimilate, enslave or "pacify" the locals.
"Have the humans kidnapped also be a result of assimilation instead of just turning them to dust" And again this humans assimilated by aliens thing belongs in the 1950's when alien invasion movies were just an allegory for the red scare, and people feared their neighbor who didn't talk to them might be an assimilated Soviet spy or something. "They are already among you, you're next!" The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a perfect example. And if you've never heard of it, well pardon me this proves your ignorance of film history and the themes of different eras.
Again, in the film the alien lady clearly explains the aliens don't consider humans a threat and are but annoying, little insects they think nothing of. WHY would you need to assimilate such a species? You're adding a layer of paranoia *which isn't needed in this film and isn't part of its narrative*
They also didn't just turn to dust. The aliens inserted some tubes into the captured humans and drained them of their fluids and nutrients which the aliens themselves need to sustain something. Humans are therefore harvested as a source of readily available energy. Those who aren't needed at the moment are put in a state of suspended animation or whatever it was to be harvested later.
"Gold could just be a resource they're extracting" Well, isn't that also explained in the film. The aliens need the gold and it's as precious to them as it is to humans. Exactly WHY and WHAT they use the gold for is irrelevant to the story, and also to the humans on the receiving end of their horror.
"maybe even just one of multiple" Keep it nice and simple. Brilliance has its core in its simplicity. You don't need 5 narratives for a thing which could be explained by one.
"and blowing up cows could just be them trying to starve and weaken the humans. " Exceptionally stupid. Again, *why* would they try to starve and weaken humans when they're clearly not even slightly bothered by them or consider them a remote threat? When they can fly in and take whatever they want without any problems why would they try to starve and weaken humans? When they see humans the same way humans see worms why bother with something utterly pointless? Again you're reasoning like human conquerors of the past reasoned. In a siege of a city you could make sure no food got in. The Vandals tore down Roman aqueducts knowing full well that those cities would fall with no water flowing into them. Hence the word vandalism btw.
And why does this "blowing up the cows" totally minor event even need to be explained?? Why the aliens just shot up the cows and the cowboys probably was some casual target practice or them enjoying themselves. Who cares? Why does this detail need to be explained at all?
"There are ways they could've had this make sense" Sigh. You don't get it. Sci-fi generally falls in two brackets. One is the intelligent sci-fi which generally doesn't involve aliens at all but if it does focuses on the general theme and lessons and not frickin' details! The other bracket is the adventure extravaganza. High on entertainment value but generally illogical and dumb. It's pure escapism. Switch your brain off and enjoy the ride. Only a fool would try to make sense of it or superimpose his/her own warped/myopic/infantile interpretation on it all. Cowboys & Aliens falls in the latter category. A ragtag bunch of humans facing dangerous aliens and triumphing in the end against all odds. That's the story. In the case of this movie you also missed the underlying themes of children growing up to face what it means to be an adult, different cultures siding their differences when they face a common enemy who don't see that difference at all and how greed is a destructive force (Craig's gunslinger train robber, Ford's greedy cattleman who owns the town and also the aliens). You miss all that because you're pre-occupied wanting explanations why the aliens blew up cows. For real.
"but instead they decided to wing it and hope nobody asks questions as to why they're doing this." Listen. Only idiots ask questions about this. Only autistic fools get upset over minor details and completely miss the story, narrative and underlying themes. Worst of all, only complete cretins want such things explained and come up with their own absurd explanations.
Guess what that makes you?
Alfred Hitchcock never explained why all the birds suddenly started attacking human in The Birds. He knew that there was no way of explaining this without it sounding silly, that it wasn't even needed or pondered by the protagonists of the story and them trying to survive and that above all it was best left to the audience.
This is why he was a great film maker and you are... (best not to speculate here)
Man just wrote a multi-page paragraph for a suggestion just to say "It's only a movie, it doesn't need to have an explanation, just turn your brain off" like that'll satisfy me or my curiosity. Not to mention it was stated by Hitchcock himself in regards to The Birds that "they wanted to exact revenge against humanity for taking nature for granted" according to a book written by Paglia, and he created the movie after being partly inspired by an event where hordes of seabirds started dive-bombing homes. This means this Hitchcock analogy doesn't even work as even that had an explanation. Not to mention that the movie doesn't explain a lot as shown by this rant, and I'm not afraid due to not knowing, just very confused. This multi-paragraph fluff is just full of holes, and really only stands to be more insulting than informative, with the only reason I'm not breaking it apart being because I really don't want to bother.
Also as a side note, love how this guy states that the reason for them extracting gold is explained in the film, and then states there's no explanation because it's irrelevant to the story. "They do it because it's precious to them" is NOT an explanation, because why the hell else would they go out of their way to come to a planet just to extract a metal. WHY would they bother to do it is the question, and not knowing isn't making this any scarier.
Seems to me that the Aliens having so many specializations is the writers' way of closing off other, too obvious avenues and focus on the weakness (or weaknesses) they have written an exploit for. These specializations were also used as "hard obstacles" that the hero has to find ways to bypass (thus maintain tension in the action scenes).
I kinda liked this movie, but there was nothing deep in it. I've seen it 2-3 times but with lessened interest every time. It's kinda lame in the end. Everything is superficial only.
i clearly remember it... but somehow only that in the end there was a humming bird and I asked my parents why a humming bird was in the desert... they just answered: "thats your problem? not the aliens?!?" ... and now humming bird is a short hand in our family for "dont question it, just enjoy the movie!" XD
I remember I watched this movie and, yeah, it didn't give me a last impression, the too many cooks problem. But after watching, I thought of a way it could be improved: in the first scene where Daniel Craig gets rid of the bountyhunters, make him make a mistake and let the last bountyhunter almost kill him; and then the bountyhunter's just explodes and when Craig sees, he just sees a weird man with a big coat and a hat that just goes away. Then, stuff happens and this weird man is following him or in the background, then it's revealed he's also an alien. Like, there's a lot of comedy potential, like the alien just waltzes into the bar, everyone points gun at him, but he just drinks earth drinks and laughs, so make in a way that they don't understand him, but they understand that he's not with the other aliens, plus Craig has a blood debt with him. Then, when the confrontation happens, the weird alien and Craig join forces and he learns that the weird alien is a space sheriff that wants to get rid of this, so making it also a western from the aliens' perspective. You can add something like the weird alien having a beef with the villains, but I feel it'd make something different, a bit less the same as more established westerns.
20:36 also, if they want gold there is loads more gold in the asteroid belt (estimated 340 billion tons) than on Earth (humans have mined about 240,000 tons of gold on Earth).
Great video, you make great points, and I specially agree with the second one. I didn't watch it in theaters, but when I did, I saw nothing that hadn't been done:
- Daniel Craig as a badass? James Bond.
- A hot mysterious woman guiding the protagonist? Fury of the Titans.
- A grumpy, badass Harrison Ford? Yes.
- A film featuring aliens before our current time? There are many, but Outlander came in 2008 so close enough.
The very reason I didn't watch it back when it was in cinemas was because it looked like an excuse to make a film, because it looked like a silly movie made gritty needlessly (hey, grit in movies, Nolan's Batman). Even the title looks inspired by B movies. This film feels uninspired.
Not saying that the examples I mentioned were the only ones (or the best examples) in which this characteristics appear. Just want to make the point that the film felt unnecessary, and a silly idea. And to be fair, I love those characteristics in the examples I mentioned (sincerely, Outlander is my guilty pleasure).
If you make me feel something, I’ll care, and I’ll remember.
If I feel nothing, I won’t care and will forget.
I love how educational and entertaining your videos are. I also appreciate how much effort you put into them. Keep up the good work!
This was so forgettable I had no idea it even existed.
The way this was actually one of my favorite movies growing up.
I never figured out what that film aims to be.
Straight Sci-Fi? Action comedy? B-Movie romp?
It could be all of those but isn't any.
I think this is the easiest to fix movie I've ever watched from your review.
If only the bracelet have more consequences when the user didn't figured out how it works asap
The main issue is the name of the movie. Showing they put so little thought into the title that it perfectly represents how little effort into the story. I apparently perfectly judged the book by its cover. Never saw this.
I would love to order your book, but I only see a Kindle option :( I remember you talked about getting a physical copy up soon- is that still in the works?
You can email me for the PDF (explained in the description) as of now. I'm still trying to figure out how to get the margins right on Amazon on the physical version. And I'm working on a better cover for the physical as well. Thanks for watching and for waiting.
This movie was all over the place. Felt like they didn’t know what they wanted to do.
No, lie. I love this movie. I love cowboys and i'm a fallout fan, so the film was awesome to me but i understand i'm a small demographic. I've actually watched this film many times and still enjoy it.
Yep. To me the key to a good movie is that you can enjoy watching it many times. Sure, C&A is not perfect but I love rewatching it, which is more than I can say for many supposed classics.
Am I the only one that remembers the CN MAD sketch of this movie more then I remember the actual movie?
I think an issue with the aliens wanting gold is that taking gold is not really... that emotionally important to viewers. Like I think it'd be a cool tidbit, esp with other comments mentioning the use in electronics, but mining gold is one of those things that'd affect the people very little.
Where as if the aliens were to take/destroy important resources/pollute the water/terraform the area, etc that'd cause kids and elderly get sick or something, that viewers would more easier be emotionally connected to, or then actually concentrate on the human experimentation.
Same with the bracelet, its one of those things where even if it doesnt do much, imagine if the bracelet was made of space-gold, and the main character then would have to get into trouble because everyone would be our to cut their hand off to steal it.
The Aladdin thing at the end was kinda fitting as Genie is a great example on how you can use a limited-use-plot-macguffin that still affects the movie by entertainingly bothering the characters. This bracelet feels a bit like the original Aladdin retellings where the genie exists just to grant the wishes, and its fine... for a 15 minute story/animation.
Yeah,the use of gold as plot device is one of those "standard western tropes" Leone and Corbucci did better.
This is such a good point. They could have had the aliens bring death and debilitating disease instead of just blowing stuff up. It would have been a mirror of how white settlers brought death and disease to the indigenous Americans. Only now you could have the white settlers align with the indigenous Americans to fight off the aliens. It certainly would have been more emotionally impactful and have more of a lasting message besides “money”.
I remember watching this when it came out on DVD. I remember my friends and I going “This should be awesome! Why is it lame?”
And that’s all I remember haha
I am infertile from eating scented candles. The
Understandable
God I really love the scathing criticism mixed with the meme editing. Truly a gem of a channel
This could be compared to Sin City in terms of behind the scene talent and both based off of comic books. You got Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez and Quintin Tarantino. That movie was a Success and very memorable. Guess it comes down to them all having a similar vision?
I remember hearing Steven Spielberg and Jon Favreau both like westerns. Maybe they tried to be too true to the genre?
Jon did redeem himself with the Mandalorian season 1.
This is the first ever movie where i couldnt help but sleep in a theatre. Not just dozed off but slipped into a 40 min slumber
I remember seeing previews from this movie and my brother and I thought the premise was so dumb that we absolutely had to see it. Went in expecting nothing and actually kind of enjoyed it since it dared to take itself seriously. I'm a lot more critical now so I might not be able to turn off my brain enough to enjoy a rewatch, however.
That ding sound at 7:34 is hilarious 🤣🤣
I have to say when I watched the movie I was just a kid and kids generally will like anything that has Aliens in the title, but with a name like that I thought that watching it today I'd see it as a generic dumb movie, and I was really surprised about how much I enjoyed it, to the point that I find it even better than the last time all those years ago
From this video I feel like I'd have enjoyed this if I'd actually watched it when it was released (because I was 15) but I never did because the lazy movie title made it sound so bad...
16:50 It's really rare for aliens in Hollywood films to be physically weaker than humans, usually a single alien has super powers on top of their technology.
The aliens from Independence Day are supposed to be on the frail side, I believe.
It was a fun movie for me, especially since I love Thirteen (I can't say I love Wilde as an actor, but I always hope she'll have as good role as that), but when I watched it on TV I felt it was something that should be a 50M film. Maybe effects would be slightly worse, but I think it would have a better chance to succeed
She was hot af at this time
"Non-human biologics" sounds an awful lot like "we strapped a dog to a drone to see what happened and it crashed."
Really loved this movie tbh
It was an awfull movie pal, wake up
@@fredy2041 YOU wake up, people can have opinions and preferences
@@felipecorpuz2476 not with bad movies kid
if you "really loved this movie", you must be very easy to please...
@@stefanforrer2573What's wrong with that? If anything you should envy him...
I saw this in the theater, and I completely forgot that Harrison Ford was in it.
I like the concept but the execution was so bland. I'd love to see a horror version, with a sort of western gothic flavor like Bone Tomahawk that starts as a gritty western, introduce the characters like that. Then you have some super creepy aliens come in and go from there. Realism is the key, and to have the characters react properly to seeing these terrifying aliens. And of course everyone dies in the end.
I saw this movie when I was a kid, and couldn't understand how a movie with such awesome concept was somehow unmemorable?
Ah yes the best critic of our generation
I remember when the trailer for this movie came on in the theaters, everybody bust out laughing
I agree with the criticisms Filmento leveled at this movie, but I think there's an important caveat worth considering: Most of us didn't come into this movie expecting it to be great cinema, we expected kitschy action schlock, and as far as kitschy action schlock goes I think Cowboys versus Aliens holds its own. It wasn't necessarily a *good* movie, but it was pretty fun, I enjoyed myself.
Why try then?
Why try making a good movie with at most decent action.
I never understand that viewpoint. Aliens, Terminator 2, Robocop, Die Hard, etc. are action schlock and great cinema at the same time, it can clearly be done, so why give movies that don't even try a pass just because they tick the "action" box? Well written story is the single most important aspect of even the schlockiest of movies.
@@jranimations5955not every film has to be a cinematic masterpiece. The point is to entertain. This movie was quite entertaining regardless of its flaws. As such the movie was a success because it did what it was supposed to. I thought that point was rather obvious given the original comment
@@SageOfLimitlessHands Given that it lost a huge amount of money, obviously it didn't succeed
@@nnnp634 Given you cant read it makes sense why you made this response. Nit being a financial success doesnt mean the movie didnt succeed in its intent.....which is to entertain.
Besides the game references, I instantly recognized the use of the game's soundtracks. Nice one! ❤
Cowboys vs Aliens is one of those movies that are amazing but not that great, its a nice movie to watch every now and then but not worth the special shiny shelf for but more of a drawer stashed movie
Why would they need Gold if they have spaceships?
There are asteroids known to us that have so much fucking gold that they're more valuable than the whole Earth economy.
Super easy to mine as well, compared to finding it on a Rocky planet.
I liked this movie and the human abduction/vivisection scene was superior was surprisingly hard hitting
That few seconds of a husband watching his wife get gutted alive? Like damn, I did not expect that and it scarred me lol
I get scared every time I hear the Annihilation score
I think that a lot of movies like this one, and I would say "Waterworld" among others, tend to suffer from being "good, but not $369,000,000,001.99 good;" and because this (perfectly fun) movie flops at the box office, people remember it (unfairly) as being terrible.
Frfr
This was the most boring film to see in theaters. The story was boring, the characters were boring, the action was boring, and it was either boring desert or WAY too dark to see anything.
It was so boring in fact Quentin Tarantino took the word "Cowboy" from Cowboys & Aliens and combined it with word "Black" makes the creation of Django: Unchained and it bombs more than this movie.
Can we get a Pacific Rim review next? Sorely in need of one
Important lesson to be learned from that movie is the balance between practical effects and cgi. Naturally you need cgi for giant robots fighting giant monsters, but del Toro uses as much practical effects as possible. I hope they make a sequel one day, Pacific Rim is amazing
This movie was supposed to be an rpg game
But became a movie
I have a real soft spot for this movie, and while I can see why it wasn't as popular as they wanted, I really loved it. I think people wanted more aliens and less cowboys, but to me letting the western elements take the lead was part of the charm. I also think that having having the two opening segments of the fight with the bounty hunters and the conversation with the doctor be pure western trope was a deliberate choice. The movie starts like any western, and stays that way, almost pure western, until the alien ship shows up in town.
Yes. Loved it too. It’s right up there (nearly) with ‘Chronicles of Riddick’, another underloved iconic classic.
It’s certainly alongside Chronicles of Riddick but only in the sense both were terrible films.
@@ddc2957 - Well, thankfully not everyone in the world has the same tastes. Would be a dull place if we all did. I also love David Lynch’s “Dune”: another flawed classic that I rewatch regularly. Doesn’t work so well as a story but the sets are so beautifully designed and atmospheric that I’m instantly transported to another universe - the prerequisite for any successful sci-fi.
"They don't see well in light"
They have interstellar space travel, but they have not invented sunglasses?
I actually enjoyed this film! I dont think it needed specific anything. I liked the tiny mystery of the armband till its a (predictable) weapon and when it was used, more rewarding than the start.
I think using big name producers was just as much marketing as trying to make a polished product. But all in all, I think making a concept as unique as this is more intended to be a fun movie, not overanalysed and shot down for not being the next original cinemaverse.
ohayou mob kun
I feel like if you want to make a fun movie with a strange premise, it would have been better to go all out and do some weird, cool things. It feels more like they wanted to play it safe, and made a movie that passes the grade of being okay, rather than risk going out of the box too much and risking a flop that would have ended up having a cult following.
I like the idea that whenever the aliens appear in the movie they have the dubstep audio accompanying them, like as presented in this video 😂😂😂
Gold can also be found in abundance on some asteroids and planets compared to what earth has. So it would make sense for aliens to go there.
But I agree that the aliens were not that impressive. They are supposed to be smart and scary as shown in some scenes in the movie but they end up as just very aggressive and attacking.
I watched this movie once. It felt like a movie that had been made as a quick cash grab for a genre craze, but there was no genre craze for it to be cash grabbing from.
This movie is better than anything Disney has made in the last 8 years
These edits are always on point. Holy hell, what a great ride. Thanks for all the laughs
For me, "Cowboys & Aliens," had a good premise and a star-studded cast, so it sucked that it fell short of my expectations. Despite big-name producers and a blend of sci-fi and Western tropes, the film's failure to utilize unique concepts creatively feels like a wasted opportunity. It is a lesson that's frustrating to see unheeded even by experienced professionals.
This movie may be absurd, but if you can't find a movie a watch, this ain't a bad pick. It's entertaining.
To be fair, aliens wanting gold makes perfect sense because gold is valuable for electronics and other advanced technologies, but cowboys wouldn't know that
But why would they come to earth for it?
@@imbaby5499Because other planets might not have it duh. Because we do. Duh. Because other planets dont necessarily have places to land and mine without putting them at risk? Any number of reasons explain this
@@SageOfLimitlessHands asteroids have gold (as well as other metals). That's how we got gold on earth in the first place, through asteroid collisions.
Looking for gold on earth while you have reliable space travel is like looking for a needle in the Pacific Ocean.
@@imbaby5499 But astrodids move
@@SageOfLimitlessHands so do planets. Motion is relative, and mining asteroids is much easier than planets because of their smaller size and lack of any noticeable gravitational field. You need to waste energy to lift off a planet, and the more gold you have, the more energy you waste.
Yo that add segway was pretty smooth i didn't even notice what you were doing for like 5-8 seconds.
Personally speaking I don’t view this movie as a failure. This film was rather bad ass and a nice change of pace from what we where getting at the time. I own the Blu Ray.
With a name and premise that features cowboys having to fight against aliens.. it just seems too goofy to really interest me.. like Abraham Lincoln as a Vampire Hunter..
John Carter was better.
1:03 Where is that BGM from? It sounds so familiar
I remember what I thought of this film after it ended, 'meh', it didn't have any pay offs or big/cool moments.
i love the RDR2 sountrack playing in the background👍🏽
Damn I haven't heard gungaginga type beat in years 😂
I thought aliens needed gold as fuel for interstellar travel. Probably my sub-consiousness wrote a better script on a background :)