Rating: 
Summary: The Not So Wild West
Review: Robert Conrad, who played James West on the TV series, once said that he told the writers to give all the dialogue to Artemis Gordon (Ross Martin). That way he came across as the silent, action oriented type. Too bad the writers of this movie didn't follow this advice. Will Smith jabbers his way through the whole movie. Can you imagine how good this movie could've been if West had been played by Denzel Washington, and the plot played it straight? The only consolation is the performance by the always watchable Kevin Kline as Artemis, and Kenneth Brannaugh as Loveless. Too bad, this movie could've been a contender.
Rating: 
Summary: Who Wastes Money On This?
Review: I would recommend this DVD only for the interactive menus and numerous extras, including Making Of. I have never seen the original Wild Wild West, but I can tell this movie doesn't live up to the predesscor. First of all, Will Smith needs to choose roles that will gurantee a box office smash. Last time I heard, this film bombed at the national theaters. The chemistry between Will Smith and Kevin Kline isn't just there. Also, Salma Hayek in the role of an entertainer just isn't perfect. The director should have done a better job, along with the people who wrote the script. The one liners don't carry us through the whole movie, even with Will Smith's slick dialogue and Kevin Kline's wittiness in acting.
Rating: 
Summary: Deserves no stars.
Review: This movie STINKS! I guess there is a lesson for Will, and all the others who took part in this production. That lesson? Don't mess with an established genre. And yes I'm well aware that this was the 90's and that movie producers had so run out of ideas that they felt they had to try and redo every movie that was ever made prior. I mean nothing racist about this when I say that it was a mistake to sign a Black actor to play this part. The traditional character of James west was played by Robert Conrad - a white actor. When they signed Will Smith they inadvertently made it a "Black" film and by doing so thus alienated a large part of their viewing audience. Its not that the fans were racist(although I'm sure some of them were) but you see when you remake a classic of any sort, you not only have to sell your product to the ever consuming adolescent masses, but also to at least some of the old fans to make it work. When they changed the color of the starring actor, they basically departed from the original so much that they were in effect making a movie that had nothing to do with "The Wild Wild West". And before you violently condemn me for my review, just think about say remaking the movie "Shaft" again and getting Ben Affleck to star in it. What do you think would happen? I think that this movie is a good thing in that it has shown Hollywood moguls that there are some parameters that you must maintain to make a film successful. And I'm sure there will be other cases in the future.
Rating:
Summary: What a Waste
Review: There is almost nothing good that I can say about "Wild Wild West." About the only thing I can think of is that it has Salma Hayek in it. It is the story of two federal law enforcement agents who have been tasked with the job of stopping an evil mastermind. Dr Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh) is a Southern gentleman who attempts to avenge the Confederacy's loss in the Civil War and to punish the now president Ulysses S. Grant. James West (Will Smith) and Artemus Gordon (Kevin Kline) are the agents who must stop Loveless. West is a swashbuckling superhero who prefers to bash his enemies heads in while Gordon is an inventive genious who creates many gadgets and tries to outwit his opponents. The plot to "Wild Wild West" is thin at best and see-through at most times. This movie is nothing more than an excuse to get Will Smith up on the screen to crack a few jokes and beat up some bad guys. I've never really seen in Smith someone who can take center stage. I see him more as a member of an ensemble cast like he was in "Independence Day." The other key players in this movie provide little in the way of depth or believability. Kenneth Branagh as a racist Southern gentleman out to avenge the Confederacy? I don't think so. He should stick to what works for him and continue doing the Shakepeare adaptations. Kevin Kline doesn't even come close to approaching the usual level of quality acting you get from him. I think he realized beforehand how bad of a movie this was and just didn't give it his all. Salma Hayek is Salma Hayek. She can't act a lick but certainly looks good in the time period wardrobe she wears in this film. The bottom line on "Wild Wild West" is not good. It's too light on substance and, while it wasn't going for something heavy, it also missed on the light side. The jokes aren't funny and the dialog is beyond corny.
Rating: 
Summary: Plays much better on DVD than it did in the theatre
Review: WILD WILD WEST is a film that gets better each time you watch it. Will Smith and Kevin Kline are reluctant partners and their casting in these parts is effective. This is what director Barry Sonnenfeld envisioned. He wanted to make a film in the spirit of the original TV show but change the relationship of the two main characters to that of one-upmanship. Smith and Kline get a chance to show off their talents in a pseudo macho contest of wits and bravado as they each vie for the girl (Salma Hayek). One would think that Kenneth Branagh as Dr. Arliss Loveless would be out of his element here but he brilliantly plays the waist high diehard Confederate would-be Southern gentleman villain with great bravado and actually steals the film from Smith and Kline. The many CG effects work much better and look more realistic on the small screen. Composer Elmer Bernstein after many years got a chance to write a Western score once again in the vein of some of his great scores such as THE COMANCHEROS. The excellent and complete WILD WILD WEST music video is a highlight of this DVD.
Rating:
Summary: So much potential and virtually none of it realized.
Review: It *could* have been so good. It could have spawned a whole series of yummy WWW movies. But unfortunately it was put in the hands of a director who obviously has no clue about focusing on the *people* in the story. This movie was all about special effects and consequently was utterly boring and uninvolving. The casting of Will Smith was so totally off. He's fantastic in so many things- but James West he is not! George Clooney IS James West and should have been the star of this flick. Kevin Kline is the perfect Artemus Gordon. He was a delight and the one saving grace in the entire movie. If Warner Brothers were not so obsessed with making flashy special effects movies for teenagers, they would have seen that a WWW with Clooney and Kline, with a good story and actual characterization, could have been a box office success with the adults who go to movies (yes, we actually do. I know it may come as a shock to hollywood execs). Kenneth Branagh is wonderful but overacts--someone should have restrained him a little. Of course that hardly matters when the rest of the movie was just not worth watching. The only plus of having it on DVD is that you can skip right to the one or two scenes that were any fun at all to watch. There was virtually no chemistry between Will Smith and Kevin Kline-- still, those few scenes between them were the only things in the movie worth watching more than once. Special effects get boring fast. Characterization...human interaction...even a little male bonding would have been nice.....I'd love to see a WWW2 done the *right* way, but after the flop of WWW, I guess it will never be. What a shame that they had to mess up so badly. You'd think after a century of movie making, Hollywood would've figured out by now what makes a good movie and what doesn't. Guess not.
Rating:
Summary: Empty
Review: It's actually hard to put my finger on why this is so bad. In that respect it's a bit like 'Batman and Robin' - the ingredients are all there (Will Smith at the height of his fame, Salma Hayek at the height of her fame, the team behind 'Men in Black'), it just falls completely flat. Will Smith isn't too bad - he just doesn't have much to do. Kevin Kline, however, seems, as he always does, to be a completely blank slate of endless nothingness, the action sequences are sporadic and unexciting, and the film doesn't seem to have much of a point. Kenneth Branagh is just silly, and there aren't any other performances of note (Salma Hayek wears a nice bodice, but - like Smith - is just there to react to things). It's not really a comedy, because there aren't any jokes, and it's not a Ghostbusters-style 'comedic action film', because there's no much action. There are some nice special effects, Salma Hayek in bondage, and the music is suitably rousing, and that's pretty much the three positive attributes. Compared to 'Men in Black' it's a terrible disappointment, and it means nothing if you're British, like me, because we never got the original television series on which it is based.
Rating: 
Summary: What's wrong with it?!
Review: Can anyone, tell me, what's wrong with it?!, i think that some aspects were exxagreated, but just in three times, the acting was good, the special FX, were great, it never bored me, the music it's also really very good, i think that many people, including critics,have lost their child inside for enjoying a film, like this one (sorry this is not quite for children).
Rating:
Summary: The death of Jim West
Review: The only thing worse than seeing horrible movies is knowing there are people that enjoy them. It makes one feel disheartened to know that there may be some people out there who like this trash. Indeed, this has got to be one of the worst movies to come out of Hollywood in some time. Wild Wild West is such an ugly production that, I don't think, would have worked even if Orsan Welles had took over the directing reigns of Barry Sonnenfield. Will Smith is not an actor, he's a product to sell tickets on dumb movies like this. The plot (if you can give it that much credit) of "West" has agent James West (Smith), and another agent, played by Kevin Kline (did this actor read the script before he accepted this one?), go out into the mighty west to see what is up with Kenneth Branagh's facial hair (another good actor wasted). The most distracting element has got to be the fact that a Black guy is chosen to play a trusted agent for the Grant government -- in 1869!! (six years after the Civil War). Every attempt to explain why The Fresh Prince Of Tombstone -- a runaway slave raised by Indians who somehow has become President Grant's most trusted confidant -- exists in post Civil War America does nothing but raise questions. If anything, it forces historical reality to bitch slap the viewer through out the whole damn thing. In the end, the comedy is lame, the acting mediocre and the action is cheesy and boring. And the Hollywood murder of classic TV marches on...
Rating:
Summary: Hey.. It Could have been a Lot Worse.
Review: I Expected the Worst from this movie and I came away with a Smile on my face. It has Action, Laughs and Salma Hayek.. What more can you want? To Answer my own Question.. We want (and deserve) a fair bit more. After the Critical and Commercial success of "Men in Black", they should have known that Expectations would have been raised, and with this trip to the west, our expectations are far from satisfied. Will Smith and Kevin Kline don't make a very good team. It would have been interesting to see how Tommy Lee Jones would have taken Kline's role. The Screenplay doesn't really give them much to work with comically, but they do get in some good action scenes. Kenneth Branagh gets all the best scenes, and the best lines, as the Villain, and Salma Hayek is Great as always, but her Screen time is very Limited. It Obviously isn't the Best in the West, but it's better than it's reputation.
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