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New Century of Cinema
DOWSE Guide to the
Movies
by Tony Lee editor of
Pigasus
Press
Wild Wild West
102 minutes (12) Warner widescreen 1.85:1
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
review by Jeff Young
What can be said about this except that it's been frightfully overrated? An ill-
conceived mix of special effects laden action, some very low comedy and ridiculously
bad acting - welcome to the mild west. Apart from Will Smith's hollow cowboy hero
(who seems to have been modelled, without much success I should add, on Mel Gibson's
Maverick characterisation) to contend, with there's also a truly dim witted
performance from the usually hyperactive Kevin Kline (here almost anaesthetised, as
if his sense of comic timing is not just out of sync but has been stopped altogether),
playing the smart fool to Smith's glib gunslinger. Add to this, pantomime reject
Kenneth Branagh, as the legless villain plotting to overthrow the President Grant's
United States, and you have a dreary waste of a hundred minutes of you life. You may
well have guessed by now that there are only two reasons for seeing this movie. One
is the impressive variety of gadgets and prototype machines (of the alternative-
history milieu that SF fans call steampunk, but also influenced by Jules Verne, and
styled after Heath Robinson's cartoon inventions), and the other reason is the
supporting cast of delightfully costumed ladies - including Salma Hayek and Bai Ling
wearing tight corsets and not much else. If you liked Roger Moore's outings as 007
and the third Back To The Future film, this may just appeal. But discerning
western fans should steer well clear of this frequently inane and wholly derivative
Hollywood venture.
DVD extras: plenty of stuff, all well presented, but most of it is just part of
the marketing campaign. Scene access in 31 chapters, 6 behind-the-scenes documentaries
with lots of interview clips, cast and crew filmographies, 2 music videos, a surely
surplus to requirements making-of film for that, and a gallery of stills. Reportedly,
there's a host of other items including a game, 'The Steel Assassin', 10 more mini-
documentaries about the movie at 'Artemus Gordon's Projection Theatre', the contents
of Warner's Wild Wild West website, plus online links (none of which I can
access, or comment upon, because although I bought a DVD player, my PC doesn't have a
DVD-ROM drive).
Back to Movies on Dowse index.
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