So here’s some good news: Cowboys & Aliens is no turkey in a ten gallon hat. Nope, summer 2011 seems hardly the smartest time to go West. You’d have to go back as far as Near Dark to find a satisfying and successful example. Wild Wild West (steampunk Western) failed big back in ’99 Jonah Hex (supernatural steampunk Western) died on its prosthetics-marred ass only last year. It also comes as part of a distinctly dodgy subgenre: the weird Western. This is neither sequel nor reboot, bravely striving for rear-ends on multiplex seats with barely any ‘brand awareness’ (ugh) and a negligible built-in audience.

While based (loosely) on a comic book, Cowboys & Aliens hardly has the following Marvel-movie newcomers Thor and Captain America enjoy, and even poor old Green Lantern was a better-known title. Cowboys & Aliens is the second of two mavericks among 2011’s summer-blockbuster herd - the other being its Paramount-funded, Spielberg-produced sibling Super 8 (which, interestingly, also centres around retro-smalltown alien abduction).

Cowboys and aliens review