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Wild Wild West
Directed By Barry Sonnenfeld
Inspired by the famous TV show from the 60's, the 99 version of Wild Wild West, far from recreating the atmosphere of the serie, attempts to reuse the formula for success of Barry Sonnenfeld's preceding movie in this Men in Black in the West.
Wild Wild West is a big budget flick where $ are thrown at your face through an abundance of gadgets and machines that constitute the conducting thread of this plotless movie.
Admittedly, special effects, sets and costumes are shiny, succesfully preserving the mix of dandyism and sci-fi of the show. Admittedly, the movie reveals a few findings from the magnets to the head-projector. Admittedly, the Will Smith - Kevin Kline duet seems to have fun. However this luxurious package has no other purpose than to hide the emptiness of this expensive production. The movie reuses Men in Black, placing the antagonist and humoristic duet in a chain of scenes with gadgets and special effects, thus deleting the charm of the tv series. The threatening and almost sinister atmosphere is gone, as well as the doses of sadism, kitsch and psychedelism, here replaced by big scale farce.
The casting does not pay a homage to its predecessors either, since the characters have been rewritten by Barry Sonnenfeld. While James West was in the past a macho, suspicious, straight-ass, handsome blue eyed hero wearing tight fitting pants played by Robert Conrad, he is now a Will Smithian buffoon James Bond. Artemus Gordon has more luck thanks to Kevin Kline who injects some craziness in his character at the expense of the seriousness of his personifications. Salma Hayek only has time to flash her bottom and have her name at the top of the poster. Finally, Miguelito Loveless, in the past a sadistic dwarf, is here interpreted by Kenneth Branagh whose megalomania with Shakespearian overplayed accents never arrives to the Machiavellian height of the dangerous dwarf.
A big spectacle flick, that will make the fans of the tv series understand what is the Wild Ass Wipe West.
Fred Thom
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Wild Wild West review
