The camera cuts and pans across the scrubby desert of New Mexico Territory as the titles roll. After the last one fades and after a brief pause, a cowboy named Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig, "Casino Royale") pops up into frame as though he's just awakened. He has. And he doesn't know where his is or, even, his own name. His first discovery is that he has an abdominal wound. Then he finds there's a futuristic object occupying his wrist and forearm, the purpose of which is a total mystery to him.

The third discovery for the amnesia victim (and for us) is that when he's suddenly surrounded by three lowlifes on horseback who threaten to shoot him, he has the capacity to move with lightning speed and superhuman strength to cut the gun-toting hombres down with nary a breath.

Steven Segal and Jackie Chan, look out!

Fixing himself up as best he can with the clothes and weapons he finds on the dead carcasses of the dummies who thought he was easy pray, he takes a horse and rides into the nearest town. It turns out to be Absolution, where the virtual owner of homes, businesses and livestock are the property of the tyrranical Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford).

Dolarhyde is nowhere to be seen but his truant son Percy (Paul Dano) is giving a lesson in bullying and threatening people. People are cowed and submissive, fearing the wrath of the Colonel if they so much as muss up his son's hair. People like Doc, the proprieter of the local bar, whose business if affected by Percy's threats. But there are a few exceptions.

The comely Ella Swenson (Olivia Wilde) is one of them. Same for the sheriff, John Taggart (Keith Carradine), who's seen enough of Percy's bullying shenanigans on the streets of the town he protects. The new stranger, Jake Lonergan, is, of course, negatively impressed. Before the episode is done, Percy is in jail ranting about what his father is going to do about this outrage, and Ella is all over Jake about wanting to help him.

With what? Well, his wound for starters. His obvious ability to bring injustice to an end in this town for another. As for Jake, we haven't seen a cool, cut figure like his striding the dust of an old west town since... well, Alan Ladd, Gary Cooper, Steve McQueen come to mind.

Whatever. The sheriff finds a wanted poster for Lonergan and, with help from an unexpected source, throws him in jail with Percy and then chains them together in a wagon for a ride to the federal hoosegow. Whcih is where Dolarhyde shows up to throw his weight around. But, the poor guy who raises quivers of fear up the spine of so many is upstaged before he can do serious damage to everyone by a far greater threat. The aliens arrive.

They take the form of attack planes, sending out missiles of destruction. But instead of just strafing and killing, their true intent is to lasso people and take them to parts unknown (about which we'll learn more later).

Let me just say this: what director Jon Favreau and writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (& others) have forged here is way beyond a cheap exploitation of two beloved genres. Nothing is spared to do full justice to both sides of the experiment. This is iconic western territory and equally faithful futuristic monster fantasy. How anyone will take it as an entertainment may well depend on their feel for either or both components. Some will think it's a futile attempt to mix oil and water.

Craig, Englishman though he is, has the face, bearing and style to take his place with the best of 'em, though the depth of the piece doesn't come close to classics like "Shane," "The Unforgiven," or "High Noon." By comparison, this is a parody. Because of it's novelty for commercial purposes, you don't even dare call it an homage.

The casting is fine. Word comes down that Craig wanted Eva Green, his costar from "Casino Royale," for the Ella Swenson part but the "pretty woman with an ethereal quality" requirement for the part is adequately portrayed by Olivia Wilde, the exceptional beauty of "Tron: Legacy," whose career path has a steadily upward slant.

Paul Dano is a bit of a surprise in this neighborhood, but he acquits himself well in the not-too-demanding petulant bully role. Sam Rockwell takes on the poor, harried businessman cliche' but strives to give it some individuality.

Ford is awfully fatherly by nature and, in writing his part, one feels that the gruesome immorality of the man as indicated by the fear his presence is supposed to instill in people is a mite softened to fit the actor's nature. There's just some places an actor can't quite stretch to, or refuses to. He's not the more dynamic of the two lead males.

More to the point is that the story is more about enemies coming together to combat a greater threat than they ever posed toward one another. There's nothing like a crew of nasty aliens attacking a town in the old west to bring cowboys and indians together out of common need. No one's entirely unsalvageable.

If Favreau's film is anything, it's derivative. Which is by intent, so it can't be a thing you score it for. But the horrific version of the alien is as exhausted as zombies -- even if they have acquired the new ability to fly airplanes like World War II aces. I will say, though, that the purposes of their attack and their means of doing it burned up some midnight oil of creativity.

I walked out of the theatre unresolved about the effect "Cowboys and Aliens" had on me. The effort is nothing to regret, and I'd buy Favreau and Craig a beer for doing it. I can't deny I was entertained, though I recognize it was more a trinket than a true gift; more surface than visceral. A young lad on his way out ahead of me turned to his friends and said, "that was awesome." His friends nodded in agreement. I'm still wondering if I can give the statement my nod.

But, there's one thing I can give the nod to. The Western. Those elements of the story gave me a very good feeling, with Matthew Libatique's cinematography going a long way to aid and abet that with his very atmospheric lighting, though the laboratory manipulations in color and contrast for flashbacks seemed inconsistent. For me, it comes down to the fact that I'll always be ready to ride western trails with the likes of Craig, Ford, Wilde and a scattering of American Indians. Anyday. As for the aliens as the threat to civil peace, well, not so much.

                                      ~~  Jules Brenner