Universal

PG 13 118 min

OK gang, I was really not looking forward to this one. How can something with such a ridiculous premise be anything but terrible?

Almost as bad as SNAKES ON A PLANE right?

I even snarked to the ticket girl saying “Well let;s see how bad this one sucks.”

Well, I was wrong.

Oh don't misunderstand, yes indeed the plot was pretty damned outrageous and (if you bother to think about it) didn't make a whole lot of sense. But once you let that reality thing go it's really a great deal of fun.

And to be honest it didn't have any red flags that might alert one to a cheap-o. Daniel (James Bond) Craig and Harrison Ford starring had to cost a few bucks, not to mention the Spielberg brand.

Anyway it starts out like a spaghetti western as a amnesiac cowboy (Craig) wakes up in the dust of the old west. He's trying to sort out some disturbing remnants of memory concerning a dead girl and some gold. The stranger makes his way to a typical movie western town where the local cattle baron's (Ford) son and henchmen are making life a pain in the ass for the locals. Unimpressed by the kid's pedigree the stranger gives the unruly youngster a butt whipping that

eventually brings the disgusted father to town.

Thats when it dawns on everyone that the stranger is actually a wanted outlaw. Well that's the end of the typical western as all of a sudden an attack by alien spacecraft. That makes the jailing of a common criminal seem like less of a priority.

To make matters worse the space goons are kidnapping lots of townspeople! Apparently the monsters want to evaluate the humans in preparation for the full scale invasion. So now, in a manner that would make Randolph Scott (Or Cleavon Little) proud, the stranger puts together a force of saddle tramps, outlaws, Indians, townsfolk to make a stand against the desperadoes from outer space.

There are as many cliches as you can count from both cowboy flicks and Sci Fi but somehow it all fits together, it's all fresh and it's all fun.

Yippee ky aye!

B

WSS

email westsidesteve@aoll.com