Wild Wild West

Rating:
Summary: I didn't see where it was that bad of a movie
Review: I know a lot of people will give me a not helpful vote for giving "Wild Wild West" a good rating, but I don't care, I thought the movie wasn't that bad. Sure, it might not be much in the plot department, but it is a good comedy movie. It has a lot of funny parts such as when Will Smith and Kevin Kline are showing their inventions to each other such as a chair that can turn you upside down to where you can see under the train, and when they are both trying to impress Rita (Salma Hayek). I also thought that the movie had some decent special effects, not some of the best, but some of them such as the huge walking spider worked well enough for the movie.

I agree with everybody that "Wild Wild West" has a choppy plot and that it isn't Will Smith's best movie, but for me it worked in the comedy department, and that was enough. Bottom line: If you want to see a flawless movie in terms of plot and every other critical aspect, don't get this one. But if you just want to see a movie that will make you laugh and keep you entertained for the most part, I recommend getting "Wild Wild West."

Rating:
Summary: Unbelievably bad
Review: There's not much to say, except "stay far, far away!" There's so much hokum here, it's very tough to sit through the whole film. I guess one could expect some aberrant film selection from Kevin Kline, Wil Smith, or Salma Hayek, but Kenneth Branaugh.... shame on you!

One of the worst films of recent memory.

Rating:
Summary: Deja view
Review: Let's play guess the movie. I will describe a film and you guess it. Here goes. Somebody at Warner Bros. adapts an idea for a screenplay from god knows where, which involves 2 guys who has trouble getting along. One of them is portrayed by superstar Will Smith, the other, a familiar caucasian. The film has a lot of special FX, corny jokes, ugly people, nifty looking vehicles and Will holding a gun. In the end these two have to put aside squabbling and fight against giant bug-like thing which stands on more than two legs. After that Will does his lil' rap when the credits come up.

What is the movie? Men In Black : The Prequel. Wild Wild West has nothing to offer except a head ache, a way of waste money and time. Will Smith disappointed us after he made people laugh with his show, charmed his fans in ID4, and had been a credible action hero in Bad Boys and Enemy of the State. Now he's in this appalling film that I keep wondering how could people waste money making this garbage.

If you're a fan of "Gangsta' rap" and manage to see this nonsense, buy Eminem's, Dmx's and Dr. Dre's album and play it all night with loud speakers at high volume. Because if Will considers G. rap whack and choose to be a part of this, then it is best that kids of the world get a hold of the grimiest rap albums and see the nastiest movies with the most foul language around. The cast is totally wrong, Kenneth Branaugh is a good actor but annoying villain. Selma Hayek's worst performance ever(sorry Selma).Kline puts more wit to the Gordon character but made him look like a sissy.

The screenplay is dumb and the 80 foot tarantula is just a distraction from that truth. Plus, Will makes a dreadful cowboy and the single "Wild Wild West" is a travesty unlike his "Men In Black" song. I was willing to see a Men In Black 2 but now I'm not sure Will and director Barry Sonnenfeld has it anymore.

Rating:
Summary: Wild, Wild Will
Review: If you think special government agent James West is fast with a six-shooter, wait'll he lays a quip on you! Megahit star Will Smith plays West, reuniting with Men In Black director Barry Sonnenfeld in an effects-loaded, shoot-from-the-lip spectacular. Kevin Kline plays fellow agent and crackerjack inventor Artemus Gordon, teamed with West on a daring assignment: Stop legless Dr. Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh) and his diabolical plot for a Disunited States of America. Salma Hayek is mysterious adventuress Rita Escobar. And all manner of geared-up 1860s gadgets - from belt-buckle derringers to surprise-packed billiard balls to a walking, eight-story, steam-and-steel tarantula - help make Wild Wild West a Wow Wow West

Rating:
Summary: Dissapointment
Review: I sorra, but I thought this was a pretty dumb movie. It was a bore so much that I couldn't follow it well enough. It does have some good music and Will Smith though!

Rating:
Summary: People needed to take this movie more light heartedly
Review: Wild Wild West should have been taken with all the seriousness of an easy going action flick. Instead most people decided it had to live up to strict standards and expectations. The movie was funny! The jokes weren't laught-a-second in coming but most of them worked. The movie was pretty, even picturesque, to look at. Every set was nicely detailed and furnished, and visually the movie was convincing that it was in in 1800s. The plot was supposed to be taken with a grain of salt. I don't know why some people think its more believable that in Speed Keanu had to tip over a train to stop it, than this movie was. Simply letting the plot ease along is good for you! The acting was finely done. Will Smith, Kevin Kline, and Kenneth Branaugh are all fine actors who did a great job with the simple script and plot and made it all look easy, clever, and real.

Rating:
Summary: Fans Of The Original Show Should Give This A Pass
Review: If you are a fan of the original, especially if you watched the show when it was on in the 60s, give this movie a pass. Like The Avengers, the movie misses the mark. Sorry, but a black James West in the 1860s would have never survived in that era, no matter how good his talents were. Will Smith seemed to forget that a cool, hip black dude works well in Men In Black (e.g. modern-day movies) but totally unbelieveable in the post Civil War days. It's kind of tough to be hip and cool in the post war years when you are constantly worried about some Southern gent wanting to hang you for the least little thing (which they attempted to address in the film without success).

Then there is the Kevin Cline role. Those two were at each other's throats throughout the movie-certainly NOT the same relationship that Ross Martin's character had with HIS partner! I think both Will Smith and Kevin Kline are good actors but mismatched in this effort.

The evil villian was just TOO evil-his killings were over the top for a tongue-in-cheek, campy premise like the TV series. He certainly wasn't clever like Miguelito, I mean, who the hell is Arliss? Isn't he on HBO (Arli$$)?

Since everyone is so mismatched in this mess of a movie, being a true fan of the TV show, the movie left me flat. Sorry, Will, maybe you'll do better in Men In Black II!!!

Rating:
Summary: The Cinematic Equivalent of "Running Bear."
Review: What possessed Will Smith to star in this train wreck?! I mean even Independence Day wasn't this bad! I'm guessing this film is supposed to be a comedy, but most of the jokes are as flat as stale beer. The breast gag didn't make me laugh, it made me cringe. All the actors in this movie play their parts as if they were asleep. The studio could have saved money by scouting actors at a tree nursery. Even bushes would be more entertaining than this. In conclusion, it made me cry tears of pity for the poor saps stuck doing this film, writhe in pain at the deliverance of those "jokes", and wonder if movie studios let just anybody with a script through. If you are thinking about seeing this film,please seek psychiatric help immediately before you endanger yourself or your loved ones.

Rating:
Summary: Sinks Quicker Than The Titanic
Review: This is a project that had everything going for it: A terrific cast, a director with a proven track record, great special effects, a huge budget and the promise of being the heir apparent of a successful television series. So what went wrong? Because "Wild Wild West," directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, is...well, just not very good. It's a case, apparently, of everything being poised for greatness until it all went south. And that's pretty much the bottom line here; nothing about this film works. Nothing. Not that everyone didn't try hard, because it's obvious that they did, right down to the last man and the last lame joke. It reminds me of a line from "Mystery Men": Someone refers to another as being "mysterious;" someone else says, "That's it? He's mysterious?" "Well," is the reply, "He's VERY mysterious." Did they try hard in this one? They tried VERY hard. But, very simply, nothing worked. The usually charismatic Will Smith (James West) didn't even have that working for him here; Kevin Kline (Artemus) didn't fare any better, and Kenneth Branagh (Dr. Loveless) proved to be one of the most forgettable villains in the history of the cinema. His over-the-top performance could do nothing to salvage a character that was anemic and uninteresting to begin with. As for Salma Hayek, it's nothing more than a case of a beautiful, talented actress being used as window dressing; and here it's like putting curtains on the windows of the Titanic even as it's sinking. Sonnenfeld will have to accept his share of the blame, since the director, above and beyond everyone else, should have seen what was happening as filming progressed (or in this case, regressed). It's hard to figure how the man who gave us "Men In Black" and "Get Shorty" (among others) could have let this one slip so badly. It's downright confusing as to how such enormously talented people could come together and go so awry in their endeavors. The principles here all have proven themselves elsewhere as masters of impeccable timing, whether it be in comedy, drama or action features, yet even that falls flat here. It's as if this project had a "Jonah" on it from the beginning. As far as the plot is concerned, I will not divulge any salient points; unfortunately, there is nothing significant enough to divulge. There are a number of jokes scattered throughout the movie that are not only bad, but seem as if they were an afterthought, possibly added to a scene only when repairs could not be effected in the editing room. If you have not yet seen this movie, and if you are a fan of Will Smith, Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh or Salma Hayek, or if you have fond memories of the T.V. series that spawned this film, do yourself a favor: Rent or buy "Enemy of the State," "A Fish Called Wanda," "Much Ado About Nothing," or "Fools Rush In," and let this one go. Protect those fond memories. If you absolutely must have a taste of this, try to catch the music video with Smith doing the title song. That video is the best thing about this whole project, and Hayek has a much more significant part in it than she does in the movie. Twenty years or so from now, someone will ask Smith what went wrong with "Wild Wild West;" and he'll probably reply, "Who knows? It just didn't work." As for now, all anyone can say is, "Who Knows? It just didn't work." And that about sums it up.

Rating:
Summary: utterly lame disaster
Review: `Wild Wild West' joins an increasingly long list of big bloated blockbusters, movies made for no possible reason beyond grabbing a quick summer buck yet which, ironically, by their very cynical and slapdash nature, utterly fail to connect with even the least demanding of audiences. The result is a multi-multi-million dollar debacle that leaves studios searching for answers and audiences shell-shocked into seeking out their entertainment along the more audacious pathway of off-Hollywood, independent filmmaking - the single positive outcome of these dull, empty enterprises.

`Wild Wild West,' like so many films before it, looks to the relics of television's bygone era for inspiration - as sad a comment as any on the dismal state of current movie creativity. As one not familiar with the original series, I cannot say what justice, or lack of justice, this homage does to its source. What is evident, judging from the results on screen, is that `Wild Wild West' is, as with most current blockbusters, top-heavy with special effects and as weak in the nether limbs as its legless villain. Straight Westerns being hopelessly out of fashion, especially for a special effects-driven summertime extravaganza, the filmmakers obviously felt that what was needed was a tongue-in-cheek approach to the material, resulting in a bizarre, but completely unfunny amalgam of fantasy and science-fiction gilded onto a Western format. The disparate styles simply fight against each other, leaving no one in the audience - neither Western nor science-fiction fans - satisfied.

The alleged plot involves the attempts by James West (Will Smith) and Artemis Gordon (Kevin Kline) to foil an evil Confederate inventor's plan to kidnap all the world's most brilliant scientists and, ultimately, terrorize the Union and President Grant into submission. This he attempts to do by creating a giant mechanized spider which is, obviously, a last ditch, desperate attempt on the part of the filmmakers to fulfill the seemingly insatiable demands of the modern audience to be dazzled by impressive special effects, no matter how inappropriate they appear in context. Here, though, the miscalculation is fatal because even the audience is wise enough to know when it is being had. Kline and Smith never achieve a palpable rapport despite the usual abundance of lame wise cracks and sarcastic asides designed to make them `hip' and `trendy' - two qualities incongruous to the setting, which again shows the lack of real commitment to the spirit of the project. There is exactly one clever moment in the film - an astonishingly creative homage to the old RCA logo - that hints at what might have been had the moviemakers been willing to really let loose their anarchic imaginations and aimed for something truly sophisticated rather than simply pasting together a series of confused, poorly written blackout sketches.

Incidentally, even some of the expensive special effects come across as surprisingly crude, especially many of the shots utilizing rear-screen projection. Hence, this film strikes out even in the one ballpark in which it might have stood a chance of emerging victorious.

The artistic and financial failure of "Wild Wild West" will, perhaps, help to put an end to the suicidal practice known as the empty-headed summer blockbuster. But don't count on it.