There’ve been aliens out West before, of course, in things like episodes of The Time Tunnel and TV movies like High Plains Invaders – and the whole notion of alien invasions in the historical past has been a mainstay of Doctor Who since the 1960s, and crops up in things like Outlander even if there’s a Hollywood reluctance to make War of the Worlds with a period setting. It’s sort of catchy (if not as witty as the redneck crime comedy Cowboys & Idiots) but also feels more like a menu than a movie – along with the ‘vs’ titles, it’s a throwing-together of keywords or search engine items rather than genuinely witty.

This story and script – credited to six people (Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby and Steve Oedekirk) with god knows how many other invisible hands in it (including director Jon Favreau?) – is listed as being based on a comic book by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, though I’d guess (without bothering to look it up) that the source mostly supplied the ‘high concept’ title. My notes on the would-be summer blockbuster.

Cowboys and aliens review