Cowboys & AliensSave

In 1873 Arizona, a man (Daniel Craig) wakes up in the desert with no memory of who he is — only a strange metallic cuff sealed around his left wrist and a deep abdominal wound. He kills three bounty hunters who attempt to capture him, demonstrating instinctive combat skills he doesn't consciously remember. He rides into the small town of Absolution, where the local saloonkeeper recognisizs him as Jake Lonergan — a wanted outlaw with a $1,000 bounty on his head.

Sheriff John Taggart (Keith Carradine) recognisizs Jake from wanted posters and attempts to arrest him. The town's wealthy cattle baron Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) arrives demanding Jake be released; Jake had reportedly stolen gold from one of Dolarhyde's stagecoaches. The standoff is interrupted when alien spacecraft attack the town — large mechanical creatures swoop down and begin abducting townspeople using grappling-cable apparatuses. Jake's wrist-cuff activates during the attack, firing destructive energy bolts that take down one of the alien vessels.

Jake's memory begins to return in fragments — he was a gold robber who fell in love with a woman named Alice (Abigail Spencer), only to have her abducted and killed by the same aliens that have now attacked Absolution. Mysterious woman Ella Swenson (Olivia Wilde) approaches Jake, revealing that she has been tracking the aliens for personal reasons. Ella, the film gradually reveals, is herself an alien from a parallel species — sent to Earth to investigate the gold-mining aliens and their plans.

Jake, Dolarhyde, and Ella organisiz a multi-faction posse to track the aliens to their primary base. The posse includes Apache warrior chief Black Knife (Raoul Trujillo), Sheriff Taggart, and Dolarhyde's adopted son Nat Colorado (Adam Beach). The composition of the posse — combining outlaw gold-thieves, Apache warriors, ranchers, and lawmen — is the film's primary thematic commitment; the human factions must overcome their pre-alien tribal divisions to confront the larger threat.

The posse's investigation leads them to the alien base — a underground mining complex where the abducted humans have been imprisoned. The aliens, the film reveals, are intelligent industrial workers from another planet who have been mining Earth's gold reserves. The abducted humans are kept alive for biological-research purposes — the aliens are studying human anatomy to develop more effective weapons. Jake's memory of Alice's death now includes the additional context that she was alive but suffering in the alien containment facility.

Jake leads the rescue mission into the alien complex. The freed humans, accompanied by Jake and Dolarhyde, must navigate the alien facility while avoiding patrol creatures. The middle act of the film is the rescue sequence; multiple Apache and outlaw fighters die during the operation. Jake recovers Alice (or what's left of her — she has been biologically modified by the aliens) and is forced to make the painful decision to free her from her suffering.

The final battle takes place at the alien mothership's exterior. Jake's wrist-cuff weapon is used to detonate the mothership's primary fuel reserves; the ship explodes, killing approximately a hundred alien occupants. Jake survives the explosion but is gravely wounded; he is rescued by Dolarhyde and the surviving posse. The film's epilogue shows the posse returning to Absolution, the threat neutralised; Jake has recovered his memory and accepted his outlaw identity, but has decided to remain in Absolution as a Sheriff's deputy. A planned sequel was developed but not produced.