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Wild Wild West Will Smith, Kevin Kline A few weeks ago, I read an article about "Wild Wild West" where director Barry Sonnenfeld said that he went back for reshoots on the film looking for "10 more laughs". As I sat through the final credits of the film, I was still waiting for one of those ten laughs to surface, but no luck. For those of you who thought that "The Matrix" signaled a fresh, new and creative Warner Brothers, think again.This is the kind of terrible film that we saw in projects like "Batman and Robin" and "The Avengers", only to the limit: the biggest possible sets, the biggest possible effects, the least possible script. The film plays like some unholy Looney Tunes cartoon, a tornado of nonsense spinning across the empty desert settings. Will Smith plays James West, a secret service agent back in the west, who's teamed up with Artemis Gordon(Kevin Kline), a genius who's a pro at inventing things. What seems like a perfect comic pair completely fails: the two don't even look at each other much and frequently act as if they're trying to make their own movie on their own terms. The enemy is Arliss Loveless, played in a way-over-the-top performance by Kenneth Brannagh, sporting a very weak Southern accent. Supposedly, the film also "stars" Salma Hayek, but she's on hand for somewhere in the neighborhood of two or three minutes. Smith does his own thing in the role, but you almost have to feel sorry for Kline. Asked to dress as a woman for the character in a few scenes, the look in his eyes says that he'd rather be absolutely anywhere else. The two happen upon a plan by Loveless to kidnap President Grant, and that's about all the plot that's given, stretched out like silly putty for the span of nearly two hours. The duo are given a train to ride around in to go after Loveless and that's where what seems like the majority of the movie is spent, having the two characters chat between each other with the most bland of small talk. Hayek's character has no real purpose in this film other than to be the sex object. There's nothing wrong with a female character being sexy, but her character here is given nothing else to do but show skin. She's a talented actress and I really think this was an impressively poor choice for a role. The sets are gigantic and overdone, the special effects are dull and boring and after looking at all the millions of dollars that went up on screen, it just makes it all the more obvious how little was spent on this embarassing screenplay. I recently watched Adam Sandler's "Big Daddy", amazed by how little the film has in laughs. "Wild Wild West" even goes further; it's almost a completely empty landscape. It's where jokes go to die. Every joke out in this film simply hits the ground like a brick. What's truly disturbing is how long reaction shots are held; the reaction shot after each and every joke seems to go on endlessly, making me think that the filmmakers actually thought this material was funny. When it becomes truly desperate, the screenplay throws out jokes about race that are disgustingly unfunny and that absolutely made me cringe. The screenplay is amazingly predictable, as well: there were many moments, especially towards the end of the film, where I was able to complete sentences before the actors were able to. And most of all, we're simply not given a reason to care about any of it: the screenplay is so incoherent, it seems to find what's happening next only by sheer luck and even then, what's happening still barely makes any sense or feels like it has any purpose. The effects are anything but special. Maybe it's the fact that I was so bored at this point, but I didn't find any of Gordon's gadgets entertaining and the biggest effect of all, the 80 foot tall spider that made an appearance in the trailer, is curiously dull- why did Loveless made a spider?(Why do I even care enough to ask?). For a film that was this expensive, the effects aren't terribly great. The spider looks too much like a cartoon and not like anything that would be remotely menacing. I find it rather amazing that Industrial Light and Magic, an effects studio with a solid history and reputation, was responsible for the effects here. The plot is so messy that by this time I hardly cared. I just watched the film, amazed at how much money can be wasted at once. In the midst of spending 100 million on this film, it amazes me that not once did someone stop and see just how terribly things were headed. The fact that even the film doesn't seem to know where it's headed only hurts the film's pace. The editing is sometimes awkward, making the fact that there was some last minute work done on this film obvious and it just adds to the confusion. I've never really liked any of Sonnenfeld's films that much- he infuses every film with his sort of light, bright and poppy style that causes everything to lack any weight at all- films that are forgettable moments after stepping out of the theater into the Summer sun. "Men In Black" had its moments- this doesn't even come close to anything that film brought to the table. "Wild Wild West" is really the biggest example of the sort of witless films Warner has pushed out in the past few years, only this time the budget could run a small country for a year. If you were amazed by how bad "The Avengers" was, this isn't much better, but it's almost twice as expensive. It's just another attempt for Warner to push themselves further into their title for the most uncreative studio, constantly putting together another project based on either A. A book B. A franchise C. A TV show or D. Total Formula. This film involves the last three: it's made up of tired elements of formula, they obviously want(ed) a franchise for this film and it's made from a TV show(that no one remembers). "Wild Wild West" is just as uncreative, unoriginal and unexciting. There's not a funny moment here to be found. A week ago, Sonnenfeld blasted the internet for spreading bad buzz about his film. Then, he seemed like a filmmaker looking to finish his art completely before presenting it. Now, his words seem like that of a desperate filmmaker agressively hiding a king-sized mistake. The year's most expensive film also happens to be the worst. I want my two hours back. 1/2 star BACK TO THE SITE: Listing Of DVD Special Sales Back To A Guide To Current Film A List Of Current/Upcoming DVD For Sale Soundtracks For Current Films |
Wild Wild West Starring Will Smith, Kevin Kline, Salma Hayek Rated:PG-13 Running Time:107 Minutes |