Its a very simple movie. Yep. Its probably the only movie I've seen that has ever lived up to its titles. Cowboys and Aliens. Yup, its really what you'll see mostly in the movie (though the aliens were called "demons" there).
True enough, life was simple and easy in the 1800s. The western lifestyle was dominated by Cowboys, and guns were their toys. Every man and woman knew how to hold and fire a gun. Funny seeing the setup was very very similar to Rango, this cartoon film dubbed by Johnny Depp. It was a perfect deja vu.
Daniel Craig is very well matching for the role. He looks perfectly cool and calm in a rough, messy yet amazing character of Jake Lonergan. Like Rango, he finds himself in a place he's not familiar with (but is altogether not far from his home). His waking up without memory brought about many surprises. In a short span of time, he's caused awe, surprise, worry, fear and anger in the town.
Soon after, the town gets attacked by aliens, and he finds that his "bracelet" wasn't for ornament at all. After having shot down a spaceship, he starts pursuit of the people who got abducted by the aliens. It was a travel for him as well as he jogs his mind to retrieve his lost memories of his past and his personality.
I liked the movie simply because it was simple but it showed a lot of positivity in the sense that the rise of the conflict has brought people together, closer. Conflict that the aliens has brought upon the planet has made different races move together as one and people to have a more open mind.
It was lovely as well, to see that in the 1800s, people never had concepts of flying and this brings them great fear. The spaceships were simpletons! and they were even shaped like a dragonfly--a quick flying insect--which could probably be why the ships were largely similar to these. The mother ship even was a simple camouflaging grain-shaped vessel. Funny though, that the format of the movie was almost entirely similar to the HG Wells' version of the War of the Worlds.
Jake Lonergan was abducted by aliens because these species were mining the Earth for gold; and since he brought gold home, they were abducted as part of an experiment. The aliens were studying human weaknesses. He managed to escape the ship by simply walking around a back door--which was in the Grand Canyon area.
In the end was a happy ending. Two races get reunited with each other. Another alien species got her piece of vengeance. A father learned how to love his son well; with the son having a second chance to redeem himself to his father. A boy becomes a courageous man. Husband and wife reunite.
Jake Lonergan leaves the town happy and prosperous after having regained the lost gold of the town.
Simple, isn't? Its what we've been missing all these time since 3D movies have been born.