those who wander: Cowboys & Aliens

At 1:40, me, Kate, and my mom went to go see one of the movies I've been waiting for since early this year. Yep, the title gives it away: Cowboys & Aliens. I'm a huge fan of cowboys, like really. I'm going to marry one, preferably with frosty blue eyes like Daniel Craig. So when I first saw the trailer, my mouth was gaped. It looked super awesome, and I couldn't wait to see it. When the title was brought up, I first thought that it was kind of stupid. As a writer myself, I like unique titles. However, the more I read about the movie, and the more trailers I saw, the more the title began to fit.
   One of my questions is this: why on earth hasn't this plot line been thought up of before? Aliens in a western era, with awesome cowboys like Jake Lonergan chasing them down. Genius!
   How I described the plot, which might or might not sound all that good, is: the directors brought in several normally cliche plot lines and twisted them into a very unique story. By "unique" I don't mean, "Ok, that was really interesting." I mean, "Wow, that was original! And awesome!"
   The movie was really well done. The plot, the setting, the characters. Everything. To make it all the more better, the composer of the soundtrack was Harry Gregson-Williams! He's like one of my all-time favorites. He's also composed the soundtrack for the first two Narnia movies. Yeah, I'm a soundtrack geek.
   I had shivers the entire movie. Not only because of the music, but also because of the aliens. They were creepy! Me and Kate were talking about them on our way to the van after the movie. I couldn't think of a way to describe them. Yes, they were creepy, but...
   I quote (from Kate): They weren't a bad creepy, they were a well-done creepy."
   That summarizes them perfectly, in my opinion. I don't want to over exaggerate the aliens, but I also don't want to undermine them either. Super creepy, but not, "Oh my word, these aliens belong in a rated R movie." They were very well-done.
   As for the characters, I think that they were very well-done as well. Their development was great. From Jake to Woodrow to Ella to Nat, ect. When the movie first starts, you don't like Harrison Ford's character (Woodrow) at all. He's a mean old ranch owner that you wish would die. (ok, so maybe not, but he's annoying.) However, at the end of the movie, you really like him. I'm not going to give you anymore detail about the characters, though. Don't want to give it all away. ;)
   Have I mentioned the soundtrack? It's super amazing. *shivers*
   There are a lot of twists and turns in this movie; things that you were definitely not thinking about when you went into the theater. My lips are sealed, though. Sorry.
   My mom thought the movie was so-so, and if you're the type of person that doesn't like pop-scenes, scary aliens, and violence, don't watch this movie. It has quite a bit of all three. Since I'm on this subject, I'll mention the violence. It wasn't all that bad, but it wasn't off-screen either. There were a several shots where the aliens not-so-prettily killed the cowboys and Indians. A couple blood splatters are also seen. While it's not explicit and graphic, it's not down-played either.
   The language: there was a fair amount. Nothing bad, no F's, just your typical western words. I'm not condoning it, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't horrified during the movie either.
   There's one scene where Olivia Wilde's character, Ella, is seen naked in front of a fire. You don't see her, just her bare back, but she is naked all the same.
   Hmmm, what else can I ramble about? The soundtrack maybe? It's due to release on August 9th. Can't wait! :)

Overall, I'd say Cowboys & Aliens was a very, very good movie. Definitely worth the money I paid for it.

STARS: 5 out of 5

Pictures from the movie: