Wild Wild West |
  • USA • 1999 • 106m •    • Directed by: Barry Sonnenfeld. • Starring: Will Smith, Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, Salma Hayek, M. Emmet Walsh, Ted Levine, Frederique Van Der Wal, Musetta Vander, Sofia Eng, Bai Ling, Garcelle Beauvais, Mike H. McGaughy, Jerry Wills. • Music by: Elmer Bernstein.      Jim West is a guns-a-blazing former Civil War hero. Artemus Gordon is an inventive U.S. Marshal who excels in disguise. When the United States is threatened by psychotic Confederate Arliss Loveless, President Ulysses Grant teams the duo up to bring him to justice. On a hazard-packed train journey from Washington D.C. to Utah, West and Gordon must combine their skills to best Loveless and his diabolical machines.
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Review:
The movie, based on a 1965 TV series by the same name, tells the story of one Jim West (Will Smith), a supposedly extraordinary US marshal, and another one Artemus Gordon (Kevin Kline), a supposedly extraordinary US marshal as well, shortly after the civil war. While the two are separately investigating the same certain case, they bump into each other and are teamed by the president to save the USA. They reveal a conspiracy by one Dr. Loveless (Kenneth Branagh) to take the USA apart so the land would be handed to its "rightful owners" (namely Loveless himself, as well as Britain, Spain and Mexico). Loveless' intentions are to make the president sign the contract for the USA's surrender after taking the entire US hostage by producing a mass destruction weapon, developed by high-caliber scientists, which were kidnapped and enslaved by him. The gunman West, teamed by gadget-man Gordon, are out to destroy Loveless' plans and save the world.
The result of this plot (a fairly standard, chewed-up "good vs. bad, good kills bad and saves the world" plot, actually) in this case, is a movie lacking any sense or logic (or coherence with history), which will by no doubt insult the intelligence of any brain-equipped viewer over the age of 15. I suppose the gimmick of the movie is the fact that at those times there were no electricity, so all the gadgetry had to be completely mechanical. The answer to the electricity issue, however, was always steam and springs -- starting from Gordon's spring loaded gadgetry and the reasonable steam powered train and tank, and ending with the completely preposterous steam powered wheelchair (controlled by a joystick and possesses some amazing remote-control capabilities), or a steam powered megaphone (!). Another scene presents some supposedly powerful (yet small) magnets with a rather peculiar behavior (a full list of all the factual mistakes in this scene, not to mention the whole movie, is far beyond the scope of this article). Besides the technical lack of logic, some actions performed by some of the characters are absolutely senseless as well. An example for such irrational behavior lies in the final duel between West and Loveless. I will not describe the actual act here so I would not "spoil" for anybody (as if it is possible in such a predicted film).
Some compare Will Smith's character (Jim West) to James Bond. I find this comparison utterly groundless. How can one compare the elegant yet discreet and cunning gentleman, working in the secret service of her highness to the brutal rash man who deals situations by "shooting first, shooting again, shooting some more and after everybody dies, trying to ask a few questions" (as was put by one of the movie's characters)? How can one compare the deliberated and clever agent to the hot-blooded US marshal who slaps the breasts of a woman in public, during one of the scenes? Bond would never do that even if he were certain the woman is indeed a man!
While the movie is very infantile, it contains some very adult-oriented jokes and scenes in it, which I have found quite amazing (in fact, the film was rated PG-13 for this very reason), considering the other parts of the film. The peek at Salma Hayek's tush is actually quite innocent, but a close up of at Ms. East's (Ling Bai) rear-end in a G-String is not innocent at all. Such more scenes are probably the whorehouse scene (depicting half naked people), the fight on Loveless' "spider" (depicting some freaks of nature) and finally a scene where light is being projected through a man's once-was-head to see the last picture he have seen before he died (which, horrifyingly, turns into a joke as well, as Will Smith repeatedly mumbles: "T-that is a m-man h-head"). These scenes stand in contrast to the infantile content throughout the movie -- while most of the movie is probably appropriate for little children alone, other is certainly not. Having seen the movie with my 11 years old brother, I sometimes think maybe he shouldn't have seen it at all (although he apparently liked the movie).
Finally, what really intrigues me most is the participation of a high quality actor as Kenneth Branagh in this silliness. I suppose he played his role well (a mad man's character, anyway), but I don't think this movie would look good in such an actor's resume.
In the bottom line, the film might have been quite funny; but then again there are much funnier films. I gave it 210 because I could have stayed in the theater throughout the movie (although I have been with my little brother, a fact which probably prohibited me from leaving). If you are above the age of 16 and you have the choice, DO NOT go to see this movie.
Review by Sagsag from the Internet Movie Database.
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