There are a handful of things to like along the way, beginning, perhaps unsurprisingly, with Craig. When they finally reach the alien mothership, there is a prolonged battle-cowboy-hatted actors on one side, CGI creepies on the other-that seems like a laboratory-pure experiment to prove the essential ridiculousness of the movie’s premise. On their journey, they will be assaulted by aliens, by highwaymen, by Indians, and by draining bouts of narrative inertia. The next morning, the aforementioned characters-minus the sheriff and Dolarhyde’s son, who were among those taken-saddle up to follow the aliens and rescue their loved ’uns. No one exhibits much interest in examining the downed pod, however, least of all the resolutely incurious script. During the otherwise one-sided encounter, Jake discovers that his bracelet is in fact a space-age blaster, and he shoots one of the alien fighters from the sky. But they quickly whiz into town, snatching up a number of residents like calves at a rodeo and spiriting them away. When first spotted, the small extraterrestrial ships look like a fire on the horizon. Then the aliens show up, and all token stabs at background and motivation are quickly abandoned. Why not just name the town Narrative Incoherence? The town is called Absolution, but the redemptive theme is so underdeveloped that it comes across as excuse-making. When the townsfolk discover that the amnesiac Jake is in fact an infamous outlaw, he’s stashed in a coach to be delivered to the federal marshals.

There is also a beautiful woman (Olivia Wilde), whose intended mysteriousness is easily mistaken for bland opacity. There he meets, in short order, a kindly priest (Clancy Brown), an ineffectual saloon-keep (Sam Rockwell), a taciturn sheriff (Keith Carradine), his timid grandson (Noah Ringer), a domineering cattleman named Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), his violent, entitled son (Paul Dano), and various other stock characters from the Western canon. After delivering a stern lesson in the virtues of Samaritanism, Jake makes his way to the nearby town of Absolution. As he tries to break the high-tech accessory off with a rock, he’s approached by three horsemen whose hearts are not filled with charity. It opens with Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) regaining consciousness amid the barren scrub of 1873 Arizona with a nasty wound in his side, a futuristic bracelet locked on his forearm, and no memory of how he got either. If you find this conceit irretrievably silly, the film is unlikely to persuade you otherwise. Where to begin with Cowboys & Aliens? As advertised, the movie concerns cowboys, aliens, and the inevitable disputes that arise between the two.

Cowboys and aliens theme party