Wild Wild West is set during 1869 & starts as US President Ulysses S. Grant (Kevin Kline) orders US Marshall Artemus Gordon (Kevin Line) & Captain Jim West (Will Smith) to work together & discover who has kidnapped twelve of America's top scientists during the past year. Gordon & West reluctantly agree to work together & find out from General 'Bloodbath' McGrath (Ted Levine) that crazed southern confederate soldier Dr. Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh) has created a giant mechanical Spider which he plans to use to kidnap President Grant & force him to sign power of the entire US over to him. With his army of mechanical weapons Dr. Loveless seems to have the upper hand but the courage & determination of Gordon & West is the President's & US's only hope...
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld & based on The Wild Wild West (1965-1969) TV series which ran for over a hundred episodes it seems that I should hate this big budget Hollywood adaptation, I mean with comments that say it's 'completely worthless', 'utter utter crap' & 'an awful waste of talent' in the IMDb comment section surely Wild Wild West is the worst film ever made that no-one would ever like? Right? Wrong. I liked Wild Wild West, yes that's right I liked it & it has problems but is a fun ride that I found more entertaining I had any right to expect considering Wild Wild West has a really bad reputation. Straight away I liked the playful & often funny script, sure it's absurd with a huge mechanical Spider, a legless villain, flying machines, decapitation traps & a plot to take control of the US but I was entertained & thought it moved along like a rocket with barely a wasted moment as the jokes, visual gags & special effects come thick & fast. The humour is hit & miss I will say that, I thought some of it was very funny like the hilarious speech Will Smith gives to the Louisiana plantation mob while at other times I thought it was embarrassing like Will Smith turning up in a see through Harem outfit to save Kevin Line but what the hell at least it tries & there's just about enough positive here to outweigh the negative. While the film never takes itself seriously & it's good fun there are times when Wild Wild West slips into embarrassing slapstick & some parts are just too goofy like Will Smith bouncing between two trains on a bungee cord, or the revolving billiards table or people randomly emerging from paintings or the silly flying Penny Farthing bike although at other times it's funny like when Will Smith takes on some bad guy's while naked or Will Smith & Kevin Kline trying to outrun two huge spinning blades through a cornfield. The narrative is poor, gaining clues from the burned in image of a decapitated heads eyes, a woman finding out where Loveless is by listening to his female guards talk about how the desert will effect their hair & so on but plot isn't really the strong point of the film.
The special CGI computer effects are pretty good, the giant marching mechanical Spider looks great as does the whole film including other machines such as a tank, trains & the Loveless wheelchair which itself grows legs at the end. The production design is great with a period wild west look combined with the whole steam punk technological look with huge pistons, huge metal machines bolted together with huge rivets & the intricacy of the designs are impressive & memorable. There's not much violence here, a few fist fights & a decapitated head. Apparently undergoing expensive re-shoots to add more humour after test audiences didn't know if it was meant to be a comedy or not, maybe that's the reason some of the more silly moments are present. The ending was also re-shot with Will Smith fighting those men in the engine room as originally he only fought & killed those female guards.
With a supposed budget of over $150,000,000 Wild Wild West was the most expensive film made in 1999, although shot in oragney desert hues the film looks good with great production values. Will Smith apparently turned down the lead in The Matrix (1999) & is pretty cool here, Kevin Line is a nice contrast while Kenneth Branagh is very theatric as the main villain & his female guards are hot even if they are underused & just sort of stand there.
Wild Wild West is a film that many seem to hate, I say to hell with them all because I really liked it. I thought it was funny, exciting, cool & very enjoyable to watch & if some of the goofier moments had been toned down then I think more people would have liked it. Ceratinly nowhere near as bad as many make out.
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld & based on The Wild Wild West (1965-1969) TV series which ran for over a hundred episodes it seems that I should hate this big budget Hollywood adaptation, I mean with comments that say it's 'completely worthless', 'utter utter crap' & 'an awful waste of talent' in the IMDb comment section surely Wild Wild West is the worst film ever made that no-one would ever like? Right? Wrong. I liked Wild Wild West, yes that's right I liked it & it has problems but is a fun ride that I found more entertaining I had any right to expect considering Wild Wild West has a really bad reputation. Straight away I liked the playful & often funny script, sure it's absurd with a huge mechanical Spider, a legless villain, flying machines, decapitation traps & a plot to take control of the US but I was entertained & thought it moved along like a rocket with barely a wasted moment as the jokes, visual gags & special effects come thick & fast. The humour is hit & miss I will say that, I thought some of it was very funny like the hilarious speech Will Smith gives to the Louisiana plantation mob while at other times I thought it was embarrassing like Will Smith turning up in a see through Harem outfit to save Kevin Line but what the hell at least it tries & there's just about enough positive here to outweigh the negative. While the film never takes itself seriously & it's good fun there are times when Wild Wild West slips into embarrassing slapstick & some parts are just too goofy like Will Smith bouncing between two trains on a bungee cord, or the revolving billiards table or people randomly emerging from paintings or the silly flying Penny Farthing bike although at other times it's funny like when Will Smith takes on some bad guy's while naked or Will Smith & Kevin Kline trying to outrun two huge spinning blades through a cornfield. The narrative is poor, gaining clues from the burned in image of a decapitated heads eyes, a woman finding out where Loveless is by listening to his female guards talk about how the desert will effect their hair & so on but plot isn't really the strong point of the film.
The special CGI computer effects are pretty good, the giant marching mechanical Spider looks great as does the whole film including other machines such as a tank, trains & the Loveless wheelchair which itself grows legs at the end. The production design is great with a period wild west look combined with the whole steam punk technological look with huge pistons, huge metal machines bolted together with huge rivets & the intricacy of the designs are impressive & memorable. There's not much violence here, a few fist fights & a decapitated head. Apparently undergoing expensive re-shoots to add more humour after test audiences didn't know if it was meant to be a comedy or not, maybe that's the reason some of the more silly moments are present. The ending was also re-shot with Will Smith fighting those men in the engine room as originally he only fought & killed those female guards.
With a supposed budget of over $150,000,000 Wild Wild West was the most expensive film made in 1999, although shot in oragney desert hues the film looks good with great production values. Will Smith apparently turned down the lead in The Matrix (1999) & is pretty cool here, Kevin Line is a nice contrast while Kenneth Branagh is very theatric as the main villain & his female guards are hot even if they are underused & just sort of stand there.
Wild Wild West is a film that many seem to hate, I say to hell with them all because I really liked it. I thought it was funny, exciting, cool & very enjoyable to watch & if some of the goofier moments had been toned down then I think more people would have liked it. Ceratinly nowhere near as bad as many make out.