Give me Harrison Ford on a horse with a cool hat and I am so there. Add a shirtless Daniel Craig and my mouth begins to water. Great fight scenes, threatening creatures from another planet, some great explosions, and a classic father/son story all make this movie worth the price of the ticket (and popcorn).
If I have to criticise this film (and I don't really want to), I'd have to be honest and say that this vision of the wild west isn't exactly period. I mean to say, it isn't very authentic. But I kind of forgot about that about half-way through. It could also be a bit graphic, kind of gory. The chick in this flick is also a bit of a headache. She walked on the screen and I just groaned and smacked my forehead. Apparently, did you know, they had eye liner, mascara (the magic kind that never runs), and hair-straighteners back in the wild west? The female character in this movie is a one-hundred-percent 21st century woman. And that was really annoying. While it took her about ten minutes to figure out the impracticality of a full-length skirt (which never seems to have petticoats) and change into trousers, it takes her almost forever to tie back her stupid hair! So, she's not exactly a pioneer woman.
I think it is important to suspend reality in order to enjoy a picture like this. I admit that I am much more willing to set aside my historian's lens to enjoy a classically unrealistic western (à la John Wayne) than I probably will be for the pending Sherlock Holmes. Although I allowed myself to enjoy the first one for the sake of introducing this great literary character to modern audiences, I will not be so forgiving to the sequel, which looks like nothing less than a gross perversity, disgustingly grotesque adulteration of great literature. I'll go see it, of course, but I will pull a lot of ugly faces.
