Wild Wild West Review
by "Mark O'Hara" (mwohara AT hotmail DOT com)July 2nd, 1999
Wild Wild West (1999)
A Film Review by Mark O'Hara
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As a boy I looked forward to "The Willd, Wild West" on Friday evenings; after a busy week of grade school, it was a cool way to begin the weekend. Even cooler were the gadgets produced by Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) and the swagger of Jim West (Robert Conrad).
"Wild,Wild West" is the latest movie revival of a classic TV show. So for fans of the campy series of 1975-70, the origin alone makes it a must-see. As a film divorced from its thirty-something ancestor, it is just better than average. In this incarnation, Will Smith plays James West, and Kevin Kline is Artie Gordon.
One thing the movie does well is preserve the edgy friendship between West and Gordon. Just as Bob Conrad was younger than Ross Martin, Will Smith is several years' Kevin Kline's junior. In one scene they play the comic counterparts of The Defiant Ones, linked together by Dr. Loveless' deadly magnets instead of by chains. The scene is hilarious, containing the wit, timing and physical comedy of two experienced actors. Even at the end, when the new Secret Service agents are friends, there is the bite of competition between them
Premise: The world isn't safe because of the devilish Dr. Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branaugh). Cut in half in the Civil War, Loveless has resurfaced in 1869 with a plot to use his evil technology to take control of the United States, and divide it up between himself and the empires that formerly occupied North America - England, France, and Spain. An associate of Loveless', a former Confederate general called "Bloodbath" McGrath, the Butcher of Libertyville, leads the heroes to Loveless. President Grant, who commissioned West and Gordon to track down the arch-villain, is himself put in grave danger when Loveless puts to use a terrible engine of war. The machine is a Gargantuan metal spider, its legs supporting a body occupied by sophisticated furnaces and pulleys and a cockpit captained by Loveless and his vampy sidekicks.
All these elements combine to make "Wild, Wild West" into an action period-piece with very watchable special effects. Besides the tank-spider, Loveless uses an amphibious ironclad, a way-advanced wheel chair (which highlights the effects that take away Branaugh's legs), and a murderous propelled saw blade that tracks down its victims, who wear a magnetic collar. Of course Artie Gordon has his own arsenal of martial gimmicks. All of them are introduced early in the narrative, James Bond-style, and utilized later. The tamest perhaps is a pistol smaller than a Derringer; the weirdest is a human head used as a projector, with Artie discovering the last image (burned into the retinas) seen by the victim. In all, the film blends special effects quite well with the action that surrounds them.
As James West, Will Smith has been discussed as an unusual choice. (George Clooney was first offered the role, with Smith as Artemus Gordon.) Because of his versatility, though, Smith pulls it off. He is fast-talking and -punching, and what adds an interesting dimension to his situation is the script's use of racial humor. I have not yet decided if the film makes too much mention of Smith's race, but I admire Smith and director Barry Sonnenfeld, as well as the screenwriting team, for attempting this risk. A couple of times, the African-American James West uses Stepin Fetchit stereotypes, before resorting to his considerable skills, to escape tricky situations. One scene, when a mob tries to lynch West for tapping a woman's breasts, falls far short of Cleavon Little in "Blazing Saddles." It's engaging, though, when West and Loveless exchange hateful puns, West attacked for being black, and Loveless for being "half a man."
Kevin Kline delivers another seamless performance, getting into the part of Artie Gordon with good humor. A master of disguise, inventor of ingenious weaponry, factotum of the highest order, Gordon is very likable, and Kline's comic sense puts Gordon just the right amount over-the-top. At various times this sharp U. S. marshal masquerades as a buxom woman and President Grant. (After 'Dave', it's the second flick that's given Kline a chance to play a president and his double!)
Salma Hayek plays Rita Escobar, who appears first as a caged playmate of Loveless'. After Gordon liberates her, Rita reveals she is the daughter of one the scientists kidnapped by Loveless to design and build the monster spider. She accompanies the two agents throughout most of their hi-jinx. Though Hayek is a solid actress and easy to look at, she is used mainly for decoration here, her function to cause conflict between potential boyfriends West and Gordon.
In smaller roles, Ted Levine plays a grimy, disgusting, head-injured General McGrath. M. Emmet Walsh plays a cagey train engineer who transports the agents about on "The Wanderer,"a train loaded with one-of-a-kind gimmickry. Walsh has been around films and television a long time, and has a memorable character actor face; his performance is strong here, especially in his reactions to double-entendres exchanged by West and Gordon.
By now Barry Sonnenfeld has a famous relationship with Will Smith; he's even called Smith a 'co-director.' Sonnenfeld controls the pace well, except many scenes follow each other too quickly, editor Jim Miller relying too much on two-second establishing shots.
Set decoration is marvelous, with each interior showing a Victorian rococo style. Loveless' wheelchair, for instance, sports the metal scrollwork seen atop the fancy smokestacks of riverboats. Walls of saloons and the White House are equally intricate. The exteriors rely on the breath-taking vistas of the West - one half of the meaning of the title, after all.
A shortcoming is that the plot is a bit too straight-forward. It seems to lack the complications, both in sublplots and in character development, needed for depth. Jim West's personal stake in doing away with McGrath and Loveless is a bit hard to swallow as well. What amounts to a one-act chase scene is what the viewer sees, though it makes for a pleasurable watching. There's a good deal of the charming camp I spied first in the television series, but there's also the late nineties language and innuendo that makes this a strict PG-13. Watch it with a teenager today.
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