Captain America, Cowboys, and Aliens.

So, recently I've been able to take in two summer blockbusters: Captain America and Cowboys and Aliens. I enjoyed both, but I might be getting bored of blockbusters for a while, since both seemed a little silly and even dull at times. I'll begin in order with Captain America: The First Avenger.




Captain Americahas been featured in some TV series and one live action film before in 1990, but this version boasts the latest special effects, great action scenes, and some really outstanding acting. The storyline is fairly engaging if it's not familiar to you. Young Steve Rodgers (Chris Evans) is a small asthmatic young man whom is determined to join the army out of patriotic duty in mid world War II. Despite the army's continued rejection, he keeps trying to join it. Rodgers eventually is allowed to join if he participates in a secret experiment to become a super solider, and he of course is transformed into Captain America. The patriotic hero eventually is set on special mission to defeat a high tech group of Nazi's lead by the super villian Red Skull (Hugo Weaving). This version of he film has some clever moments to it, and is really enjoyable to watch because the acting talents of Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, and Hayley Atwell. The fight scenes are intense and edge of your seat, and should please any action fan. However, the film strangely becomes a little tedious as all of the film's combat is almost void of any military strategy. In the oddest way, the film becomes action packed yet dull as it progresses into one simple minded action scene after another, and culminates in a somewhat unsatisfying ending. It's also hard to take some of the weapons that HYDRA, Red Skulls special band of Nazi's has in the mid forties, some of which include lazer guns and high tech submarines. I know it's a comic book/science fiction film, but when you set a film in such a concrete historic period, It's awkward to break the realistic setting with such anachronisms. Overall, not a bad super hero flick, and I can't wait to see next summer’s Avengers movie. Oh, special hint, make sure you stay till the end of the previews for this one.

You'll like this movie if you also enjoyed movies like Spider-Man, Iron Man 2 X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Thor.

Now, we move on to the cheesier and much more fun Cowboys and Aliens. How do I describe Cowboys and Aliens ? The charm of it is that it's "B" grade movie already, and the film just doesn’t care and revels in it. Other reviews called it simple minded and well, the movie just delivers on every level that it promises: Great action scenes of cowboys and aliens, attractive stars, scary monsters, special effects, and a good show. Daniel Craig (of recent James Bond Fame) plays a lone gun slinger with amnesia, a troubled past and a weird alien weapon strapped to his arm. Craig attempts to play the strong silent type in this film, but most of the time comes across a little dull. Harrison Ford plays a complex and corrupt cattle rancher with a military background, whom is honestly the only interesting character in the film. Olivia Wilde plays a mysterious and gorgeous female character, but sadly displays little acting talent in this role. Honestly, I don't hold it against her though; I hope she keeps making movies for twenty years. She’d probably be a sexy old lady; I’m not joking.




Ah, perhaps that is how Cowboys and Aliens can be summed up-pure blockbuster cinema, an action packed feast for the eyes that aspires to be little else. The film seeks to entertain, and does so with such abandon that it leaves the viewer feeling a little dumb downed, yet somehow giddy and pleased all the same.

****Spoiler Alert****



However, some parts of this enjoyable film honestly do need to be ridiculed. I understand a lot of professional film and video editors believe audiences are all at least a little stupid, easily distracted, and easily confused. Someone editing this film had that theory with a vengeance. The movie rushes from action scene to action scene, from character to character, without any real build up of characters or storyline. The pace of the film makes the viewer feel something like this: “Bam, here’s aliens, Bam, here’s outlaws, Bam here’s Indians, oh there’re fighting, oh that person dies that sucks they were cool, oh there’s Daniel Crag I wish I was sexy like him, dam there’s Oliva Wilde she so hot, o man, more people dying, Bam kill the aliens, oh cool it blew up….awww…that dog is cute…wait, why do I care about what happens in this movie again? ”

Now on to the dog. There are numerous shots of a cute dog in this film. It has no purpose; it is a character without any meaning that does not advance the narrative to any degree. Therefore, this cuddly, lovable creature is loathsome to me. Clearly, the cinematographers won over the writers on this. To a writer, no matter how adorable this beast is to the simple pedestrian masses, when numerous shots of a character are included in a film of a character, that character must have a point. The dog does not have a point, and therefore is annoying to me. I can’t help it. Then again, the dog’s purpose is not entirely unlike that of Daniel Craig or Olivia Wilde in this film. They are so hot though. I do wish I was sexy like Daniel Craig though (sigh).

Go see this movie; it’s fun. Just read the encyclopedia a little bit after to retrieve IQ points afterwords. There’s a scene where Daniel Craig has to drink some magic Indian whiskey, and that’s how they find out where the aliens are hiding. Yeah, it’s that brilliant of a movie.

You'll like this movie if you also liked Independence Day, Aliens vs. Predator, War of the Worlds, and Xtro.