“Pockets on Shrek, Rockets on deck
Tell me what’s next, alien sex
I’ma disrobe you, than I’mma probe you
See I abducted you, so I tell ya what to do
I tell ya what to do, what to do, what to do”
-Those Kanye West “rhymes” from ET
Despite the geektastic union of James Bond and Indiana Jones sharing the same 40 feet of screen for the very first time, Cowboys & Aliens remains, after a distractedly puzzling 2 hours, a study of “˜Oh, what could/should have been’. You leave as the credits roll not necessarily dissatisfied, but with the niggling feeling that, considering the pedigree of those involved in front of and behind the camera, this movie should be a lot better than it is.
In terms of Steven Spielberg-produced alien invasion flicks, C&A is leagues better than June’s 80’s nostalgia theme restaurant Super 8. It appears that 1880s evil aliens have a lot more going for it than 1980s weepy bitch aliens.
However, if the thought of seeing Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford together is just too enticing, then by all means go. Just make sure your expectations are roped nicely in check, for though the names Spielberg, producer Ron Howard, Lost‘s Damon Lindelof contributing to the screenplay, and Iron Man director Jon Favreau may lead you to expect genre transcendence, you may just have to be satisfied by the very averageness of the production.
Time for some SPOILER TALK! Below are SPOILERS for Cowboys & Aliens. Free free to add your thoughts in the Comments section.
Jon Favreau‘s new film Cowboys & Aliens hits theaters on July 29, so in anticipation of the film, we here at Geeks of Doom have one (1) prize pack to give away to a lucky reader!
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One (1) Official Cowboys & Aliens T-Shirt
One (1) Cowboys & Aliens Metal Replica Wrist Blaster
One (1) Cowboys & Aliens Playing Cards Deck
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Director Jon Favreau refused to be outdone today at WonderCon 2011 by the 10-minute Green Lantern clip, so he played a 9-minute reel that included an exclusive first look at the alien from his new film Cowboys & Aliens.
The alien was shown at the end where a toothy looking creature reared its large ugly head into the opening of a cave where people were presumingly trapped inside. I’d say it looked pretty similar to Aliens, but I didn’t get as good of a look as I’d have liked to (side note: thank you person sitting in front of me who had to go to the restroom at the most inopportune time).
The scene started out with Daniel Craig‘s character Jake Lonergan walking up to a building and inspecting to see if anyone else was inside. He enters and starts dressing a wound just as a gun is pointed at his head from behind by Meacham (played by Clancy Brown). “Two kinds of men get shot: criminals and victims. Well, which one are ya?” Meacham says, which Jake replies with “I don’t know.”
The image shows Craig’s character with one arm outstretched. Over his hand and wrist is a mechanism which is lit up. This looks like the end of the footage we saw at SDCC where Craig’s character uses that mechanism to shoot down a spaceship.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press
