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Review by Walter Frith
2½ stars out of 4
'Wild Wild West' saturates the screen with intense silliness and
deliberately attempts to be the ultimate summer movie. Noisy, filled
with special effects, and full of in jokes from other aspects of pop
culture, the film begins rather poorly but picks up steam (including
using a train as a major prop) and has a villain as pleasing and as
charismatic as most seen in the movies in a very long time. Barry
Sonnenfeld injects his jack-in-the-box style direction and his film
wobbles with a dizziness that works almost as well here as it did in his
1997 triumph, 'Men in Black'. Much of 'Men in Black' will become dated
in the years to come, particularly the scene where the audience plays
witness to the secret observation room and on a giant projection screen
they observe many celebrities on Earth whom we discover in an irreverent
and joking way that they are actually aliens. Borrowing from many
cheesy and low budget sci-fi movies from years gone by, Barry Sonnenfeld
used them in 'MIB' and uses many metaphors from classic stereotyped
westerns to do the same in 'Wild Wild West'.
Will Smith (James T. West) and Kevin Kline (Artemus Gordon) star as two
federal agents in post Civil war America, around 1870, who team up for
President Grant (also played by Kline and an in joke from 1993's 'Dave'
where Kline played a regular guy and a fictional U.S. president) to find
out who is kidnapping scientists involving a possible plot to bring down
the government. Their investigation takes them to New Orleans where
they come in contact with Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh). Loveless
is a former member of the confederacy who wants revenge on the Union
after losing his legs in the war and is forced to get around in a high
tech (for its time) wheelchair. Loveless' symbol (like the Riddler's
question mark) is the spider. It's on Loveless' flag, other personal
belongings, and he sends a few of the creatures with a gift for the
president enclosed in glass. Dressed in dark clothing with a beard
trimmed to give you the true impression of evil, Branagh's villain
steals the show as many villains do on many occasions at the movies. He
wants to overthrow the U.S. government and give the land back (for a
fee, of course) to Great Britain, France, Spain, Mexico and a couple of
others.
Joining West and Gordon in their adventure is Rtia Escobar (Salma
Hayek), who claims to be the daughter of one of the scientists kidnapped
and wants to tag along in the quest to find her father. Naturally, both
men take a shine to her and vie for her affections. Other members of
the cast include M. Emmet Walsh and Ted Levine.
It's entirely possible to dislike 'Wild Wild West' for all the right
reasons. There is little chemistry between its two leads, the plot is
riddled with uneven qualities, contrivances and many scenes of
convoluted logic. Aside from this (for me at least) is the feeling of a
guilty pleasure. You know, one of those films you hate to admit you
like but you find that the movie works for you and you alone. This is
the way the film struck me.
Will Smith articulates himself quite well this time. Unlike his role in
'Men in Black' where his character was a little wet behind the ears in
his training by the elder Tommy Lee Jones as an agent chasing aliens,
Smith is completely cool and in charge as Jim West. Kevin Kline plays
his role in the manner of an aristocrat. Sort of like an American Dr.
Watson, full of dapper expressions in a surprisingly cool manner. The
screenplay by Brent Maddock, Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman and S.S.
Wilson makes you wonder why it took four people to write it because in a
film where special effects take over in such an obvious way, this seems
to be a puzzle. One thing I'm almost certain of is that for fans of the
western genre who are purists, this film isn't for them. It's too high
tech for its era to please fans of the western but is still a good ride
full of mindless fun for the rest of us.
OUT OF 5 > * * * 1/2
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Copyright © 2000 Walter Frith
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