Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

Director: Jon Favreau

Cast: Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell

Have I Seen it Before: Yep.

Did I Like It: On spec, this a movie I’d be there for opening weekend, which I was. Harnessing the best parts of John Ford and Sergio Leone to tell a hybrid tale incorporating the quintessence of Spilebergian awe and wonder? The film practically makes itself.

Except, it didn’t. For the years since the film’s release and lukewarm reception, that failure seemed like a mystery to me. Were people so bothered by the mere existence of a post-modern western that they couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea of having fun with the prospect? Is the same thing that causes people to bafflingly look down on Back to the Future Part III (1990) still unfairly affecting the moviegoing public twenty years later?

On this viewing, I don’t think so. At the very least, I don’t think that reflexive boredom with cowboys doomed this film to be instantly forgotten. That sense in the movie watching public may yet exist, but the movie’s problems exist beyond. For two out of three acts, the film is a good homage to those classic westerns and is well on its way to be one of those brilliant genre mashups that—like the Cornetto films of Edgar Wright—stand the test of time. And then the conclusion is a mishmash of cliches not of every movie it is trying to emulate, but every frozen TV dinner action movie released around the same time. Many of those films were written by the same writers who wrote this film, and that is a pretty good reason why most of them don’t write feature films anymore*.

The film has good performances. Daniel Craig cuts a convincing mysterious cowboy figure, especially when one considers that Robert Downey Jr. was originally cast in the role. While charming, he would have been completely wrong for the role as it was eventually presented, and even for the genre, now that I think about it. Even Harrison Ford looks like he’s mostly awake through the film, in an era of his performances where that was pretty rare. Had the film tried just a little bit harder and reached for a little bit more in its conclusion, it could have been something really great. Then again, Favreau certainly has proven his adeptness with similar material with The Mandalorian. Maybe if the focus had been on the aliens, and the cowboys were secondary, we’d be having a different discussion now.

*Granted, Lindelof was always better at TV and returned where he could unfurl his true skills. Kurtzman is a better producer than he ever was a writer, although many current viewers of Star Trek might take great pains to disagree that he’s worth anything. Roberto Orci can’t seem to get projects off the ground anymore, which feels like something approaching justice.

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Director: Jon Favreau

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sam Rockwell

Have I Seen it Before: Sure.

Did I Like It: Yes… But at the same time, it is in fair competition for the worst MCU movie so far.

Just as the original Iron Man (2008) is a great example of the need for shared cinematic universes to start with a great movie first, and then build from here, its sequel is a pointed example of where Marvel has occasionally mis-stepped, and the Distinguished Competition has wallowed. Too much of the movie is devoted to setting up future films. Indeed, the strangely turgid scenes featuring Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) make them seem like their in a waiting room for their future appointments with Thor and Captain America. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) has the same problem. See Man of Steel (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Suicide Squad (2016) and even the supposed culmination of all their efforts, Justice League (2017), or really any DC film that isn’t Wonder Woman (2017) or, maybe, Aquaman (2018) for other examples.

The film feels less vibrant than its predecessor in other ways as well. I feel a need to not speak ill of any appearance of Robert Downey Jr. as the character, as it turns out those appearances are a non-renewable resource, but he feels less funny, more shackled to a pedestrian script here. It’s the last time it will feel this way, and is only more apparent as he continued to inhabit the role. Gone, too, is the visceral creative quality. The sequence of Stark creating a new element (?) is both tacked on and not nearly as satisfying as Stark’s initial creation of the suits in the first film.

And yet there are watchable elements to the movie. The idea of Sam Rockwell as a pale shadow of the cool watchability of Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark is the film’s most fully realized idea, and Rockwell swings for the fences. It’s unfortunate that Justin Hammer couldn’t appear in other films, but it quickly becomes clear that Tony Stark is moving on to bigger and badder things.

It sounds like from the above that I am down on the film. It’s still insanely watchable. It’s just not their best effort.

Iron Man (2008)

Director: Jon Favreau

Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Terrance Howard

Have I Seen it Before: Oh, so many times. That first time feels like a million years ago. Then there are times when it feels like it was just yesterday. Sorry. I may still be working through some Avengers: Endgame (2019) feelings, as at the time of this writing, I only saw that film for the first time this weekend.

Did I Like It: Of course. The thing that Marvel did—and may have only lucked into—where DC’s larger universe has failed, is that they made a highly watchable first movie. 

Some people might say that Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger (Jeff Bridges) is a lackluster villain, and that the third act looks a lot like many of the other superhero films in the decade or so that preceded it. These are all valid concerns, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe proved from its infant days that a weak villain wouldn’t keep these movies down. This film converted verifiably great film actor Robert Downey Jr. to unassailable film star, Robert Downey Jr. Few people can pull off both. In fact, he might be the only one.

It’s also a fairly engaging story about the creative process. I’ve never created a mechanical suit of armor, but I have written a few books and engaged in other creative endeavors, so the process of suitmaking resonates with me. The Mark I is like a first draft. Lurching, awkward, and only if your lucky will it work in fits and starts. The Mark II is a good revision. All of the obvious problems have been fixed, but you only discover all new problems you hadn’t yet considered. By the time the suit is hotrod red and gold in its Mark III iteration, it has finally started to sing, much like later polishes. And yet, still you want to make refinements to your design. 

I want to be Tony Stark in my own way. Figuring things out. Always funny regardless of what’s going on. And now? Well, go read my Endgame review. But, as I’ll soon try to make the point in another venue, every story has to end, but there’s always charm in going back to the beginning and revisiting old friends.