Revisiting 'Cowboys & Aliens': A real mess of a movie

I had only seen the ill-fated Cowboys & Aliens once, when it first came out in theaters. And I'd always defended it.

I never tried to make the case that it was a classic or anything but I didn't think it deserved the harsh reviews and disappointing box office it received.

But now, after a second viewing, I can safely say it was kind of a disaster and almost a textbook case in how not to make a modern blockbuster.

I guess my mind was clouded to a certain degree when I first saw the film. I am such an enormous Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford fan, they're two of my favorite movie stars and actors working today, that I was predisposed to like anything starring them.

Also, I appreciated that the film was the very least an original concept that would be -- in theory -- blending genres in an unconventional way.

Now I never read the graphic novel on which Cowboys & Aliens is based, so I can't tell if the film was mimicking the tone of that book or venturing out on its own. What I do know is the director Jon Favreau (whose work I by-and-large like) and the scriptwriters spoiled what could have been a fun movie.

Cowboys & Aliens is the most frustrating kind of failure, because I think it could have been good. It has elements that are terrific -- the first 15 minutes or so are pretty engaging and both Craig and Ford make very credible western heroes. But as it gets going it gets increasingly muddled, humorless and mind-numbing.

The thing that galls me the most is that for some reason Favreau, who showed he could make fun popcorn entertainment previously with Iron Man, decided to make a movie with such an inherently silly title but with a premise so dour and serious.

The look of the film is grim and grimy, when it should pop. The aliens, while somewhat creepy are also pretty non-descript CGI nonsense. They have no discernible personality or style, even their ships look boring, and so when they are finally revealed they're kind of a letdown.

Harrison Ford and Daniel Craid doing badass right

As stunning at she is, I still don't quite know what Olivia Wilde was doing in this movie. Her subplot seems particularly absurd and grafted on. And while at first Craig has fun as a taciturn loner his performance is hamstrung by pesky, overly edited flashback sequences which burden the movie. Only, Harrison Ford makes the most of his role; he's particularly funny during a campfire scene where his grumpy rancher character tries to discern much of the plot.

The movie needed more scenes like these. It should have been campier or at least more knowingly silly like Zombieland, which mixed the road movie comedy genre with a horror film but never lost its sense of irony. Favreau seems to want to be staging Unforgiven with periodic alien attacks, and that's not something I think many filmmakers could pull off.

I am ok with chaotic action movies, but I shouldn't find myself not even understanding what's happening in any given scene. Cowboys & Aliens is chock full of these kinds of continuity questions and scenes were explosions punctuate dialogue instead of character development.

Curiously, this film, and the fourth Indiana Jones before it, both stumbled out of the gate trying to make a credible alien movie. I think it's one of the hardest genres because the look of the creatures has to be superb (because it has to compare with unique designs from the past like E.T. and H.R. Giger's Alien) but also the story has to be strong enough to sustain our disbelief.

I will give this film credit for presenting a sensitive portrayal of American Indians, which at least helps sidestep the problematic title of the film which is of course playing off the notion of cowboys and Indians. And there are some nice, nifty moments in the movie -- I particularly liked Paul Dano as Ford's sniveling punk of a son. But the film's clunky, convoluted plot and uninspired visuals will likely leave the film on the scrapheap of forgettable, albeit noble, failures.