Wild Wild West Review
by Edward Johnson-ott (PBBP24A AT prodigy DOT com)July 2nd, 1999
Wild Wild West (1999)
Will Smith, Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, Salma Hayek, Bai Ling, Frederique Van Der Wal, Musetta Vander, M. Emmet Walsh, Ted Levine, Sofia Eng, Ian Abercrombie, Kris Andersson, Christian Aubert, Ismael "East" Carlo, Carlos Cervantes, Debra Christofferson, Orestes Matacena, Jerry Potter, Steve Tom. Music by Elmer Bernstein. Written by S.S. Wilson & Brent Maddock and Jeffrey Price & Peter S. Seaman, from a story by Jim Thomas & John Thomas. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. 95 minutes. Rated PG-13, 1.5 stars (out of five stars)
Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly
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The centerpiece of "Wild Wild West" is a huge mechanical spider. In one scene, the metallic arachnid looms over a small Utah town, then lumbers forward in an ungainly, but impressive fashion, destroying everything in its path. The film is a lot like that giant spider. It looks great, but moves awkwardly and, whenever matters are in doubt, just blows stuff up.
Based on the quirky sci-fi/western TV series from the '60s and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld ("Men in Black"), the credits for "Wild Wild West" indicate that it was written by (get this) S.S. Wilson & Brent Maddock and Jeffrey Price & Peter S. Seaman, from a story by Jim Thomas & John Thomas. Whew! Is there anything better than a film created by committee? The disjointed production plays as if Sonnenfeld threw several drafts of the script into the air, snagged pages at random as they fluttered down and started filming when he had a handful. Had the filmmakers spent a tenth as much time honing the script as they did on the nifty art direction, "Wild Wild West" would have been something more than drivel with a colorful candy coating.
Set in the post-Civil War era, the film opens badly with a cumbersome sequence set at a West Virginian bordello, then moves to the White House, where President Ulysses S. Grant teams up a pair of quarreling special agents; brawler and all-around stud James T. West (Will Smith) and Felix Unger-ish inventor/master of disguise Artemus Gordon (Kevin Kline). Together, they set off to battle the evil Dr. Loveless (Kenneth Branagh), a megalomaniac who, after losing the lower portion of his body in the war, kidnapped a group of scientists to create a super-weapon that would force Grant to surrender the newly re-United States. Oh, and lovely Rita Escobar (Salma Hayek) hooks up with the guys, hoping to rescue her father from the clutches of Loveless.
The pluses of "Wild Wild West" are mostly visual. Gordon and West travel in a plush private train filled with Gordon's fanciful inventions. There are a number of striking sets, particularly Loveless' arachnid-themed mansion, which includes henchmen hidden within "living" paintings. The dapper Jim West and voluptuous Rita are easy on the eyes, and that giant mechanical spider is a knockout.
The minuses are the lurching, unfocused storyline and hack script, which forces a lot of talented actors to recite some truly lame sentences. For every good one-liner, there are five duds and even the charismatic Will Smith can't salvage lines like "That's it. No more Mister Knife Guy!"
"Wild Wild West" is designed as lightweight summer fun and its combination of attractive actors and retro-cool gadgets may be enough for some. But with Barry Sonnenfeld's track record and a cast this talented, we have a right to expect more than flashy effects, a few good moments and a lot of half-ass shtick.
© 1999 Ed Johnson-Ott
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