Movie review – “Cowboys and Aliens” (2011) **

This must have sounded great at pitch and I admit to being excited at the trailer but it doesn’t quite work. Maybe because there’s no one to relate to – Daniel Craig is too mysterious and brooding and he clearly knows something about the aliens, so he’s got a secret which keeps him distant from us, and Harrison Ford is too mean and grouchy and he's got a secret which keeps him from us and so does Olivia Wilde... Maybe they should have had a simpler goodie and baddie cowboy story and then chucked the aliens on top of it. Everyone has a secret – Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, the aliens. There’s no one for the audience to latch on to. Also the aliens don’t have any personality. Daniel Craig does good craggy torment but isn’t everyman; Olivia Wilde is gorgeous and can’t act.