There's always a risk in creating combos, as some of them just won't take off. Peanut Butter and ham for instance, doesn't work, but PB & J does. Laurel probably wouldn't have made that big of a name for himself if he teamed up with anyone other than Hardy, and George Michael wouldn't be where he is today without whatshisface from Wham!. OK, maybe that last one doesn't quite work, but you get the gist.

Director Jon Favreau is going all out with unconventional combos for his latest film. Not only is he colliding genres with the western meet 'n' greet with sci-fi, but he's also pairing James Bond with Indiana Jones/Han Solo for the very first time. But does Favreau go a combo too far?

A man wakes up in the middle of the wilds of the west, not knowing who he is, where he is, or how he got there. As he stirs he notices two things: he's injured and he's wearing a fancy bracelet thing on his wrist. After a spot of bother, he finds himself in the small town of Absolution, where he soon discovers that not all the folk there are friendly.

He may not know who he is but the sheriff (Keith Carradine) certainly does, as he has a poster on his wall with his picture, his name – Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) – and the word 'wanted' underneath. Just as the sheriff is about to send Jake and a young trouble maker Percy (Paul Dano) off to face justice elsewhere, Percy's pa Woodrow (Harrison Ford) moseys into town. Woodrow is a mighty influential cattle owner in them there parts, and is none too happy about his son's treatment.

Just as it looks like the situation could escalate, it does, but not in the way expected. Suddenly all of the group are attacked from shiny metallic machines in the sky. The space ships grab a number of the community, including Percy, before they disappear as quickly as they arrived.

Woodrow isn't best pleased about the situation and soon he has a posse ready to go, with Jake by his side. They may not know anything about their new foe, but it's not going to deter them from laying down the law, cowboy style.

Listen kid, I can stand here for years looking brooding, so don't even think about it.

Favreau is on a bit of a roll with comic adaptations, following up on Iron Man I and II with this film based on a 2006 graphic novel of the same name. It's perhaps this obvious fondness for the medium that has led to a very straight-faced cinematic translation. Favreau definitely takes the source material very seriously – perhaps a tad too seriously. It may well be set in the Wild West, but does it have to be so damn parched? The dialogue alone would give Ryvita a good run for its money in the dry as a bone stakes.

It's made worse by the fact there's a high expectation with Ford involved. He's made several careers out of playing the action hero with endless witty quips at hand. The problem here is that he's handed over the action hero mantle to Craig, leaving himself to play a humourless grouch. And being the current Bond, Craig knows a thing or two about dropping a hint of humour into a character; as such, you'd think it wouldn't be a problem for him to inject a little fun into proceedings yet you couldn't be more wrong. Sadly even with bionic arms Craig couldn't do enough to carry this film. And Ford's performance is the very definition of perfunctory. Perhaps Favreau has just spent too long working with a main character who wears a tin can as a suit.

There's nothing wrong with treating your premise with respect, but let's face it, you're making a western film with aliens in it, not Brokeback Mountain.

Another troubling sign is that there are eight writers given screenplay/story credits. Now you would have thought that the law of averages would mean that with that many writers involved, there would be some display of sparkling dialogue... but alas, no.

But let's not dig up a whole heap of dirt and bury this thing just yet. The real hero of the day is the story. Actually it's not even the story so much as the simple premise of a western with aliens in it. It may not be fun (at any time), but it is enjoyable. And even if Craig and Ford are a disappointment, the likes of Dano, Sam Rockwell and the woefully underused Walter Goggins (who plays the enigmatic Boyd Crowder in the US Drama series Justified) give it the shot of personality it so badly needs.

Another slight niggle is Olivia Wilde; after her glowing role in Tron Legacy, a little more was expected from what is essentially a token female part.

And that's a criticism of the whole film,: considering the talent on board, more was expected. If half of the talent was replaced with unknowns, it probably would have been the sleeper box office hit of the year.

As it stands, Cowboys & Aliens is the kind of visual romp that although let down by some big leads that don't particularly work well together, has an engaging story that gives a welcome twist to the usual wild goings on in the old west.