"Cowboys & Aliens" (PG-13, Avail. 12/6)

Daniel Craig in the old west? Harrison Ford actually looking engaged with material again? Jon Favreau ("Iron Man") directing a sci-fi western? Yes, please! Will this film live up to your hopes?

Like Jason Bourne, Jake Lonergan (Craig) doesn't know who he is or how he's so adept at killing. With a strange shackle upon his wrist, he lands in Absolution, a town owned by cattle man Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde (Ford). Dolarhyde's obnoxious son Percy (Paul Dano) doesn't let anyone in town forget just who's in charge.

Not one to be intimidated, Jake stands up to Percy, which lands them both in jail. With the pair about to be taken elsewhere to be tried, the mysterious Ella (Olivia Wilde) hopes to enlist Jake's help with something...well, mysterious.

Before leaving Absolution, something no one has ever seen flies into town, leaving a trail of destruction and kidnapping several townsfolk, including Percy, the sheriff (Keith Carradine), and the wife (Ana de la Reguera) of the town doctor (Sam Rockwell). The only weapon the people of Absolution have to fight it is what Jake has on his wrist, much to his surprise. The remaining townspeople band together to track down the alien menace and get their loved ones back.

"Cowboys & Aliens" is a movie I really wanted to love and at first I did. It gets off to an excellent start and there was a lot of potential here. Favreau, the actors, and the screenplay by committee get the tone just right. This isn't a big budget extravaganza masquerading as B-movie schlock, it's a big budget extravaganza that knows that's just what it is, and it's played with a straight face, as it should be.

The trouble is that screenplay by committee makes for a muddled story and wastes some terrific opportunities. So much more could have been done with the relationship between Dolarhyde and Percy. As it is, you really don't care whether or not the two are reunited.

The emotional core of the film ends up being the subplot involving Doc's search for his wife. Rockwell proves once again that he is one of the finest actors alive today and his character is clearly the one the audience will care about the most.

In terms of the other performances, Craig is terrific and is the main reason that, tonally at least, "Cowboys & Aliens" works. Wilde does a fine job with a character that isn't developed as much as she ought to be, given how important she is to the story. There's also a nice performance by Clancy Brown as Absolution's preacher.

Then there's Harrison Ford. Something just feels off. I'm not sure what it is, but something's wrong.

Ultimately the biggest problem "Cowboys & Aliens" has is that it just isn't fun enough. The muddled story and lack of character development are the biggest culprits but I think there's another factor. One I can't quite put my finger on.

You could do a lot worse than "Cowboys & Aliens," but its writers could have done much better. 6.5/10.