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Cowboys & Aliens | 2011 | PG-13 | - 3.8.4

When alien abductions begin taking place in the wild west of 1873 Arizona, several cowboys, Native Americans and renegades are the only hope for Earth. With Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Adam Beach, Sam Rockwell, Abigail Spencer, Keith Carradine, Paul Dano and Olivia Wilde. Directed by Jon Favreau. [1:58]

SEX/NUDITY 3 - A man experiences a flashback and we see him and a woman kissing passionately: the man is lying on top of the woman and they are fully clothed.
 A man and a woman share a lingering kiss, and the woman puts the man's face in her hands. A man and a woman hug on multiple occasions. We see a man and a woman hug and the woman places her hands on the man's face. A woman touches a man's face lovingly. Men and women dance arm in arm.
 A man implies that he thinks a woman is a prostitute when she approaches him, but she clarifies that she is not a prostitute. A man makes a crude joke to another man, implying masturbation.
 A fully nude woman emerges from a fire: we see her bare back, her buttocks are obscured by the fire, a man appears to look at her front (we do not see any nudity aside from the bare back), and he wraps a blanket around her. We see a woman watching a man, and his bare chest and back are visible as he takes off his shirt. A man's bare chest and back are seen as he takes off his shirt. A portion of a man's chest is visible when his shirt is torn open. A portion of a man's bare torso is visible when his shirt is lifted. A man unbuttons his pants and pulls them down to use the bathroom; no nudity is visible and we see him pulling his pants up moments later.

VIOLENCE/GORE 8 - During an extended battle between aliens and a group of men and several men on horseback, we see many aliens tackling men, men fire guns and arrows at the aliens (they appear to be unharmed), a man hits an alien with a club, and we see a man throw a spear through the chest of an alien, the alien turns to attack the man and a second man shoots the alien rapidly until the alien falls to the ground; an alien uses its claws to stab through the back of a man (we hear the sound of bone and tissue ripping), a man lassos an alien and knocks it over, the alien drags the man off his horse and claws and chews through his chest and face (we see blood covering the alien's face) and a man shoots an alien in the back of the head (the head explodes into multiple pieces of green and red gory matter and blood splatter).
 An alien attacks a man, we see it ripping at the man's neck with its teeth, and another man shoots the alien in the head; the alien's head explodes and we see the man lying on the ground covered in human blood while another man tries to keep the man's neck wounds closed (he bleeds to death).
 An alien leaps on top of a man and rips into the neck and face of the man, another man shoots the alien multiple times in the back, another man fires a bolt of energy from a cuff on his wrist and the alien is struck and flies backward and off the man on the ground; we later see a man cradling the injured man in his hands, blood comes from the man's mouth and he dies.
 A man jumps onto the back of an alien as the alien attempts to attack two other men: the man stabs the alien in the back with a knife strapped with dynamite, and the dynamite explodes, blowing up the man and the alien and gory pieces fly through the air.
 A man rapidly fires bolts of energy from a cuff on his wrist, the bolts hit a group of aliens racing through a tunnel, and their bodies explode into pieces that cover the tunnel and a room.
 An alien slams a man against a table, pinning him down with metal straps, and the alien draws a large needle to the man's face and is about to stab him when a second man appears and shoots the alien in the head and back repeatedly; the man strapped to the table stands up and shoves the alien into a stream of molten gold, and we see the alien's body melt into mush and bones.
 An alien corners a boy in a small cave, the alien opens its mouth/chest, and two small claws come out and are about to grab the boy; the boy stabs the open chest cavity with a knife, and green blood and gore pour from the wound and cover the boy's hands and knife.
 An alien stabs a large needle into the torso of a man, we see the man squirm in pain, he grabs the needle, stabs and drags it through the face of the alien, the alien screams in pain, blood and gore erupt from the wound and we later see the alien with a bloody, healing cut on its face (although its eye appears to have been cut out).
 We hear a woman's scream and see several people approach a house; they watch the silhouettes of bodies moving inside the house, a gunshot is heard and a spray of blood covers the window followed by a loud growl. An explosion fired from a spaceship knocks a man off his feet: an alien approaches the man through the explosions and the man fires gunshots rapidly at the alien until it hits the ground.
 Three men on horseback approach and surround another man, one of the men approaches the man and holds him at gunpoint, the man stabs one of the men in the knee, shoots one in the chest and knocks the other off his horse and repeatedly punches him as he lays on the ground; blood is seen splattering the attacking man's face and we later see one of the men on the ground with a bloody knife sticking out of his leg (it is implied the three horsemen are dead). A boy watches in horror as an alien attacks and presumably kills a man.
 A husband strapped to an examination table watches as his wife is stabbed in the torso with large tubes; an alien shines a light on her chest and we see her body shaking, and then turning to ash and crumbling away.
 An alien punches a woman, the force sends her flying backwards, and we later see a small cut on her temple and a bloody wound on her side; we later see her deceased body wrapped in fabric and thrown into a fire as a group of men watch (she emerges from the fire, reanimated and unharmed moments later).
 A series of explosions are seen coming from spaceships flying through the air, people run through a street to avoid the fireballs, and small metal whips come from the spaceships and grab people, pulling them into the spaceship and we hear them screaming; fireballs shot from the spaceships hit buildings, cause horses to spook and buck and knock over a stagecoach, a boy watches as a man is pulled into the spaceship by one of the metal whips and a husband watches as his wife is lifted away. Several people watch as a huge spaceship explodes into a fireball in mid-air, presumably killing a woman who was still aboard.
 A massive explosion sends a man flying head-first into a river, and he struggles and pulls himself to land, we see burnt trees, small fires surrounding the area and burnt corpses of cows that appear to have been blown up (blood and gore are visible on the cows); two men are implied to be dead (their bodies are not seen).
 Five spaceships attack several men on horseback, we see explosions coming from the spaceships and hitting the men and horses, the men fly off the horses and we hear shouting while metal hooks from the ship descend and lift several men and a woman into the air and into the spaceship as people watch.
 A man jumps onto a flying spaceship and holds onto the wings, a woman is strapped to the bottom, the man uses a cuff on his wrist to fire a bolt of energy that causes the spaceship to crash into a river, and the man and the woman emerge from the river unharmed (an uninjured alien is seen leaping out of the crashed spaceship).
 Five men with their guns drawn approach another man that kicks, punches and knocks down three of the men, and takes a gun from the belt of one of the gunmen, which goes off; he then puts the hot barrel against the man's neck (we hear a sizzle and the man drops to the ground), and a woman whacks a board against the back of the another gunman's head, knocking him to the ground, unconscious (we later see the man awake in a jail cell, unharmed).
 A man dodges a punch thrown by another man, he is then punched by a second man that lifts his head up by the hair, the first man then punches the man repeatedly, each time the second man lifts the man's head up by the hair (we see blood coming from the man's nose after he is hit the third time and he appears to be unconscious). A man grabs a young man's hand and crushes it in order to slip off a set of handcuffs: we hear the young man scream in pain and shout that his hand is broken. A man punches another man in the mouth (the man pulls out a broken, bloody tooth). A man swiftly kicks a young man in the crotch, and the young man falls over and moans in pain. A man head-butts a young man through the bars of a jail cell, and the young man is knocked unconscious (we see him lying on the ground but is later seen unharmed). A man hits another man in the face with the barrel of a gun and the man reciprocates by punching the attacker in the face; they are both unharmed. A man punches another man in the crotch and he falls over. A man knocks a woman off a horse, he pins her to the ground and releases her moments later. A young man knocks the glasses off a man's face; the man is unharmed. A young man kicks dirt in the face of a man; the man is unharmed.
 A man uses a wrist cuff to shoot a bolt of energy at an alien, and it knocks the alien away from a woman it has pinned behind it; the alien screams and growls, and then presumably dies unseen.
 An alien corners a boy and growls at him, the alien's chest and mouth open and two claws emerge from the cavity, touch the face of the boy and the boy is terrified but unharmed.
 A man detonates an explosive on top of an alien spaceship; it explodes in a massive fireball and we see aliens running from the burning wreckage.
 A man uses a cuff attached to his wrist to fire a bolt of energy that blows out the side of a stagecoach, and the man then shoots a spaceship flying through the air and it crashes to the ground; no one is injured. A man uses a wrist cuff to shoot a blast of energy that knocks a man off his feet and sends him flying through the air.
 A young man accidentally shoots a man in the arm; the man grabs his arm and shouts in pain (no blood is visible). A young man fires multiple gunshots at a building, they ricochet and no one is injured. A man fires multiple shots at the wreckage of a spaceship, the shots ricochet and no one is injured.
 A man and a woman watch as coins on a table turn into boiling, molten metal, the metal lifts into the ceiling, setting it on fire and a metal hook comes through the ceiling and yanks the woman through a hole in the roof.
 A man is tied at the arms and legs, the ropes are pulled in opposite directions by two horses as another man watches and the man shouts in pain; the rope attached to the man's legs is cut and one horse runs away, dragging him by the arm behind it. Two men fire gunshots at the feet of horses, causing them to buck and rear up.
 On many occasions men are held at gunpoint: A man with a shotgun drawn approaches another man that disarms him and walks away (both are unharmed); a young man draws his gun to shoot a man and the man being held at gunpoint threatens the young man; several armed guards escort a handcuffed man at gunpoint and lead him into a stagecoach; several men emerge from behind rocks and hold a group of horsemen at gunpoint; a man instructs several men to surround a woman and hold her at gunpoint; native Americans surround several men, drag them into a drum circle and threaten them with weapons; a young man threatens a man, saying that his father has been known to kill people and will do the same to the man; and a young man threatens multiple people with violence, saying that he can behave however he wants.
 An injured man winces in pain as another man pours liquor onto his open and bloody wound on his torso, the man uses a needle and thread to stitch up the wound and we see blood and gore on the thread; the man then uses his teeth to break off the thread (we do not see the needle entering the wound).
 A man winces in pain, we see a small cut on his face and ear while he holds his side and we see a portion of his shirt soaked with blood; the man later lifts up his shirt revealing a bloody wound and blood covering his torso and hands. A woman places her hand over a healing wound on a man's torso.
 A man stands beside the bloody corpse of a cow, and we see other blown-up cow corpses in the background. A man examines a footprint left by an alien, he says it is apparent that the alien is injured and bleeding and we see a small amount of green "blood" next to the footprint.
 A man shouts at the wreckage of a spaceship, asking if his wife is unharmed. A man shouts at a boy, saying that a dog is either dead or has run away. A man shouts at another man. A woman shouts at a man and a man shouts at a woman angrily. A man tells another man that he had heard the man's stories about riding into battle and seeing the bodies of over 300 people. A man tells a boy that he had taken a man's knife and slit a man's throat to ease his suffering from extreme burns covering his body. A woman asks a man if "his people" had been taken by a series of alien spaceships and she then tells the man that her people had been taken hostage and she was trying to save them. A man tells another man that people kidnapped by aliens will be eaten as food. A man makes a crude joke that he would eat another man's wife as food. A woman warns a group of men that people kidnapped by aliens will be killed. A man tells another man that he believes a man has a "bounty on his head." A man tells another man that he is wanted for murder, arson and robbery. A man tells another man that only "criminals and victims" are shot. A young man tells a sheriff that he had shot a man in self-defense. A man tells a group of men that they have to draw out a group of aliens and kill them. A husband tells his wife that he thought she had died. Two men joke with a man, saying that he had died, and one jokes that he was looking forward to hanging the man. A man accuses another man of stealing from him; he then makes a vague threat of violence towards the thief. A man half-jokingly tells another man that he could shoot the man in the chest and cut off his arm. A man tells a musician that it sounds like he is "playing at a funeral."
 We see and hear a young man repeatedly spitting on the face of a sleeping man, and we see the spittle hit the man's face and drip onto his shirt. A man crouches down in front of two men, appearing about to defecate and he is interrupted. We hear sounds of urinating and see the back of a young man (no nudity or urinating is visible). A man makes a crude joke about people not knowing "which hand to wipe with." A man discovers a pile of pulled teeth lying on the ground.
 A woman shoots a large bubble of water hovering over the heads of men and women, the water pours out and the men and women are soaked. A man repeatedly pounds a cuff on his wrist with a rock; it has no effect.

LANGUAGE 4 - 2 sexual references, 3 scatological terms, 1 incomplete/implied scatological term, 4 anatomical terms, 37 mild obscenities, name-calling (fool, high and mighty, lovebirds, coward, West Pointers, thick Indian skull), exclamations (shut up), 6 religious profanities, 2 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - A man drinks an unidentified substance, which causes hallucinations. Throughout the film we see men and women drinking liquor, including men drinking shots of liquor very rapidly and a man drinking liquor from a bottle and appearing extremely intoxicated (he is later asked if he has liquor on his breath and if he had been drinking), a man pours liquor from a bottle onto a wound as antiseptic and takes a drink, a man mentions that a group of men can spend their time drinking, and a man tells a young man that he drinks for free at a bar. A man is seen smoking a cigarette on two occasions, two men share a cigar, and a man is seen with a pipe in his mouth.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Alien abductions, train robberies, the American wild west, revenge, railroads, cowboys, Native Americans, bounty hunters, science fiction, lost love, entitlement.

MESSAGE - Working together makes tasks easier to accomplish. Science fiction can add interest to stories about the American West.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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We are a totally independent website with no connections to political, religious or other groups & we neither solicit nor choose advertisers. You can help us keep our independence with a donation.

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