ironhorse_iv
Yes, I know, a lot of people hate this wastefully-expensive, fluffy comic fantasy and buddy film, but for me, I kinda dig this film. I think the critics were a little harsh on this film. Surprising, it's not as bad, as people make it out to be. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and based on the 1965–1969 TV series of the same name by Michael Garrison, the movie tells the story of two government agents, gunslinger James West (Will Smith) & inventor Artemus Gordon (Kevin Kline) who must save President Grant from the clutches of ex-Confederate military engineer turn nineteenth-century super-villain, Dr. Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh). Without spoiling the movie, too much, it's pretty clear, that this movie was made to capitalize on the same success, Sonnenfeld and Smith had with 1997's 'Men in Black'. Instead, of using Sci-fiction comedy, yet again, by making a sequel of that said movie, they choose to go with the hard route, with adapting a TV show, most people in the 1990s, barely heard of, or watch. Having never heard of the show nor the two made-for-TV movie sequels, 1979's 'The Wild Wild West Revisited' and 1980's 'More Wild Wild West', before seeing this film, I can tell you that it didn't take me, out of the movie; yet I can understand, those die-hard fans that did. It's clear, that the movie change a lot of things, when adapting the source material to the big screen. A good example is Dr. Loveless, who went from a dwarf named Miguelito to a man without legs named Arliss. It's clear, that the new character model was created out of the influences of 1964's 'Dr. Strangelove'. I kinda like this change, as it gave the character, a little more reason to be a mad scientist. After all, he's trying to get revenge on the survivors of the war that took away, his means to reproduce. It made him, a lot more memorable. I love the over-the-top acting from Kenneth Branagh, because of that. Another change from the source material is the omission of the hulking giant named Voltaire that use to accomplice him. Instead, we have a series of sexy 'Amazonian' vixens played by Victoria's Secret models and foreign actresses, like Frederique van der Wal, Sofia Eng, Bai Ling, and Musetta Vander. Talk about sex appeal. Also, as much as I love Salma Hayek and her beauty. I found her character to be, somewhat pointless and underused. Her character, Rita Escobar rarely adds anything to the main plot, besides eye candy and love-interest for both the heroes and the villain. Another big chance from the source material was Will Smith as James West. You rarely see black actors in westerns. Turning the original white character to a black character, help build the rivality between them, very well. It also makes somewhat sense within the means of the story as there were many ex-slaves turn cowboys, even if Smith is speaking with some modern slang and dialect. After all, Will Smith's appeal goes a long way toward making up for poor plotting and dialogue. Yet, it's not far enough. There is ton of embarrassing cringe-inducing badly low pace dialogue situations. For example, Smith's dialogue to a white lynch mob about why was he "drumming" on a white lady's boobs was a little too long. Then, there is the scene, where Smith is dancing in drag. It went on, forever. I never want to see that, ever again. Even, the ending was somewhat awkward. Still, unlike the others critics, I thought the on-screen chemistry between Smith's character with that of Kline's character was alright for the most part. Still, Kevin Kline is by far, the weaker of the two main leads. Most of his master of disguises jokes and Freudian slips, kinda does fall flat. Honestly, most of the humor does, regardless of the actor in the film. The movie underwent costly re-shoots in an attempt to inject some humor after it was found that test audiences weren't sure if it was supposed to be a comedy. The movie's humor is clunky. That's bad. However, I did like the large amount of gags, we got from the gadgetry from Gordon and Loveless. It's just funny that producer, Jon Peters insisted so hard, on getting a giant mechanical spider be included in a film. He really does love spiders, as he try to do the same, with the fail film adaptation of the comic book, 'The Sandman' & 'Superman Lives'. In many opinion, while the spider part, seem to come out of nowhere, it was visually well done. The effects, by far, is the most appealing part of the film. The action scenes were fun to watch. During the shooting of several sequences involving stunts and pyrotechnics with the metal spider, a planned building fire grew out of control and quickly overwhelmed the local fire crews that were standing by. Much of the town, they wanted to destroyed by the metal spider, was consumed by the fire. Still, they were able to pull off that sequence, with the rest of the budget, they were given. Another thing that critics might be, a little hard on, this film for, is the opening theme song by Elmer Bernstein. I found it, to be really adventurous and upbeat compare to the original by Richard Markowitz. The TV Show version sounds generic. Nothing really stood out with that song. Also, while, Will Smith's 'Wild Wild West' rap song was sub-par, it was a fun tune to listen to, back in the day. Overall: As entertainment, Wild Wild West is mildly fun to watch. It's not the best, but clearly not, the bad or the ugly. It's more a Mild Mild Mess.
