Wild Wild West Review
by Susan Granger (Ssg722 AT aol DOT com)July 1st, 1999
http://www.speakers-podium.com/susangranger.
Susan Granger's review of "WILD WILD WEST" (Warner Bros.)
After "Independence Day" and "Men in Black," July 4th has become Will Smith's weekend but his new action/comedy, "Wild Wild West," doesn't measure up to the fireworks of previous fare. In this retro sci-fi extravaganza, set in 1869, Smith plays charming, impetuous government agent James West. When the nation's top scientists have been kidnapped and President Ulysses S. Grant is threatened, he's teamed with U.S. marshal Artemus Gordon, a fanciful inventor and master of disguises, played by Kevin Kline. The Dr. Strangelove-like villain is a legless madman, Dr. Arliss Loveless (a disguised Kenneth Branagh), who is determined reverse the outcome of the Civil War. He possesses a sinister weapon of mass destruction called the Tarantula, an 8-legged, 80-foot-high, steam-driven automaton. That mechanical arachnid and the other James Bond-esque devices on Kline's lavish, high-tech train, called the Wanderer, are the coolest aspects of the movie - thanks to Industrial Light & Magic. Director Barry Sonnenfeld, whose work with Smith in "MIB" was hip, clever and inventive, seems to flounder this time 'round. He can't decide whether Smith's a sexy stud or a comic hero. Plus, the relationship between Smith and Kline is arbitrary and forced, and there's zero chemistry with stunning Salma Hayek who's, literally, just the butt of their jokes. But the primary problem rests with the faltering script, the assemblage of four writers (S.S. Wilson, Brent Maddock, Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman) who also fail to come up with the necessary humorous, bantering dialogue. A curious cameo note: Robert Conrad, who played the original James West in the popular '60s TV show, is an uncredited President Grant. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Wild Wild West" is a silly, escapist 6. Stick with Smith's lavish music video which is reminiscent of Michael Jackson's "Thriller."
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