A stranger stumbles into the desert town of Absolution with no memory of his past and a futuristic shackle around his wrist. With the help of mysterious beauty Ella and the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde, he finds himself leading an unlikely posse of cowboys, outlaws, and Apache warriors against a common enemy from beyond this world in an epic showdown for survival.
[A] phenomenally successful two-man war against narrative clarity and continuity.
– Christopher Orr,
The Atlantic,
29 Jul 2011
rotten:
Cowboys & Aliens is an agreeable time-killer, but I'll bet a couple of clever kids could make a livelier movie with a Woody puppet and a Predator doll.
– David Edelstein,
New York Magazine/Vulture,
31 Jul 2011
rotten:
It's fun to think about what Cowboys & Aliens might have been if any creativity had crept past the title page.
– Josh Levin,
Slate,
2 Aug 2011
rotten:
Takes itself much too seriously, with acts of brutality outnumbering the gags.
– Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
8 Aug 2011
rotten:
What started as 'True Grit'-meets-'War of the Worlds' ends up closer to - whisper it - 'Wild Wild West'.