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Cowboys and Aliens (film): Difference between revisions
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A 2011 film directed by [[Jon Favreau]], produced by [[Steven Spielberg]] and [[Ron Howard]], and starring [[Harrison Ford]] and [[Daniel Craig]], set in [[The Wild West]].
An amnesiac man by the name of Jake Lonergan wakes up in the middle of the desert with a strange metal device on his forearm. He soon finds himself to be a wanted outlaw hunted by Federal Marshals and bounty hunters, but then discovers a much more pressing issue when mysterious lights begin to shine in the sky, and the device on his forearm activates to devastating effect.
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* [[Aliens Are Bastards]]: The aliens are complete assholes, {{spoiler|except Ella, of course}}.
* [[Aliens in Cardiff]]: The aliens come to Arizona {{spoiler|looking for gold, and the Wild West has still got plenty}}.
* [[All-Star Cast]]: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Clancy Brown, Keith Karradine.
* [[Annoying Arrows]]: Arrows do little more than distract the aliens.
** That said, so do bullets.
* [[Anti-Hero]]: Lonergan and Dolarhyde.
* [[Arm Cannon]]/[[Hand Blast]]: The device attached to Lonergan's arm packs a ''hell'' of punch.
* [[Asskicking Equals Authority]]: A source of friction between Dolarhyde and the Apaches. They don't accept him as a great warrior because they expect this trope; if he were, he would already have a big band of followers behind him.
* [[Awesome McCoolname]]: Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde. Jake Lonergan sounds only slightly less badass.
* [[Badass]]:
** Lonergan. The movie opens with him calmly and easily killing a trio of bounty hunters while completely unarmed.
** Dolarhyde is an old, grizzled war veteran who proves he's still got some spunk left in him.
** Doc becomes one by the end of the movie.
* [[Badass Grandpa]]: The sheriff (an actual grandpa!) and Dolarhyde.
* [[Badass Preacher]]: Meacham. His advice to Doc is to get a gun and learn how to shoot it. So much for turning the other cheek.
* [[BFG]]: The aliens who aren't packing arm cannons are packing these.
* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: {{spoiler|Ella sacrifices herself to ensure the aliens don't return home, and Lonergan decides not to settle down, but the aliens are dead.}}
* [[Bizarre Alien Biology]]: The aliens have a secondary pair of arms that come out of their chest, which they seem to use for more delicate work than their main arms, which seem more suited for combat. This is also an [[Achilles' Heel]], as {{spoiler|using these arms also exposes their hearts}}.
* [[Boom! Headshot!]]: Doc learns how to sharpshoot at just the right moment.
* [[Bounty Hunter]]: The people seen at the beginning of the film, who try to arrest Lonergan. [[Curb Stomp Battle|They fail]].
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* [[Cattle Punk]]: Cowboys. Aliens. [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]].
* [[The Cavalry]]: {{spoiler|Lonergan's old gang}}.
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]:
** Emmett's knife.
** The scorching effect of the aliens' {{spoiler|gold-mining device}}.
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** The fact that the town is a {{spoiler|mining town.}}
* [[Chekhov's Skill]]: Doc learning how to shoot.
* [[Cigar Fuse-Lighting]]: After one of the bandits drops all the matches off a cliff, he asks how he's going to light the dynamite. The answer is the lit cigarallo he's been smoking the whole scene.
* [[Colonel Badass]]: Although he's not in the army anymore, Dolarhyde has the requisite military rank. And boy does he kick ass.
* [[Contrived Coincidence]]: ...that everything they need to run into is pretty much all lined up on the route they take while following the trail of the alien. The riverboat, the house Jake was living in, the bandits he worked with, the Indians to help him regain his memories, and the spaceship itself, all out there in a line and in easy riding distance from each other.
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* [[Heel Face Turn]]: Dolarhyde, Lonergan and a dozen bandits rediscover their inner goodness during the course of the movie. Most unnamed characters [[Redemption Equals Death|die in the process]].
* [[Hellish Horse]]: When the alien ships first appear in the sky, they appear to be a fiery stampede.
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]:
** {{spoiler|Ella takes Lonergan's [[Arm Cannon]] into the core of the alien ship and overloads it, destroying the ship, the aliens, and herself.}}
** {{spoiler|Meacham is critically wounded while rescuing Emmett from an attacking Alien.}}
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** And lets not forget Lonergan fighting the aliens with their own weaponry. Even more ironic as we discover that Lonergan acquired it when an Alien took it off to dissect him, but didn't think that putting an [[Arm Cannon]] next to an ''unrestrained'' human would mean he'd grab it.
** One alien {{spoiler|is killed with their gold mining technology.}}
* [[Hollywood Atheist]]: Doc, who seems to have no faith because he's had bad luck. After a few theological conversations, he's giving religious eulogies.
* [[Hollywood Tactics]]: Dolarhyde insists that you can't just run around in a big jumble shooting in every direction, but that's exactly how the climax goes. The aliens, for their part, rush right out of their base and straight into the melee, some completely unarmed. Later, they rush headlong down a hallway into Jake's fire, heedless of their brethren in front of them getting blasted to bits.
* [[Hospitality for Heroes]]: The bartender's wife lets Jake have a drink for free after he stood up to the town bully.
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* [[The Medic]]: Meachum the preacher stitches up Lonergan's wound, even though there's a trained doctor just across the street running the saloon. Doc eventually joins the group as [[The Medic]], though he rarely gets a patient who isn't already dead.
* [[Meek Townsman]]: Doc...at first.
* [[Mentor Occupational Hazard]]: {{spoiler|The preacher.}}
* [[Misplaced Names Poster]]: That's not Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde! It's Olivia Wilde, Daniel Craig, and Harrison Ford!
* [[Mugging the Monster]]: Three men try to take Jake in at the beginning of the film, thinking that he is a suspicious person and there might be a reward. [[Curb Stomp Battle|Things do not go well for them]].
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* [[Not Using the Z Word]]: Not once is the word "alien" used. Makes sense; at the time, the word "alien" referred solely to "people from another country." Instead, thanks to the preacher, they've been labeled as "demons".
* [[The Noun and the Noun]]
* [[Only Mostly Dead]]: {{spoiler|Ella. Being an alien, she revives herself from death, but she admits she wasn't sure if she would be able to do that in her human form.}}
* [[Our Demons Are Different]]: They're actually aliens. The concept of space travel and aliens hasn't really taken root in the 19th century. {{spoiler|Ella later has some difficulty trying to explain to everyone that she's from another world.}}
* [[Outrun the Fireball]]: Dolerhyde and Jake running through the caves staying ahead of a blastwave.
* [[Outside Context Villain]]: Alien invaders isn't exactly something the average 19th century cowboy would even ''consider''.
* [[Papa Wolf]]: Dolarhyde turns out to be this. Also, the sheriff is a Grandpa Wolf; later inverted when Emmet has to save him.
* [[Pet the Dog]]:
** Dolarhyde with Emmett (giving him a piece of apple and a knife) and later Nat (telling him that he's the son he's always wanted).
** Taken literally numerous times when Jake pets the black-and-white dog that accompanies the cowboys. It deserves it, too, seeing as how it acts as an able lookout on many occasions.
* [[Pistol-Whipping]]: Used against Jake.
* [[Planet Looters]]: This time, aliens come {{spoiler|for gold}}.
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