When "The Wild Wild West debuted on a Friday night more than three decades ago on CBS, few realized what a big hit it would become or the legions of fans who would keep the show on the air until 1970 and for many years after that via syndicated reruns. A fun and highly inventive combination of the popular westerns of the day and the spy elements from the similarly popular James Bond films that had just arrived a few years earlier, the show still rates as one of the "coolest" ever to grace the airwaves.
With entertaining performances from Robert Conrad as the "I dare you to knock this battery from my shoulder" Jim West (you have to be at least in your thirties to understand that) and Ross Martin as his comedic sidekick, Artemus Gordon, the show was a fun diversion and made an indelible impression on a generation of young viewers such as myself.
Unfortunately, shows like that can't be left alone to bask in their former glory. Instead, and in the tradition of the big screen adaptions of various TV shows such as "The Brady Bunch," "The Mod Squad," "The Addams Family" and even another western, "Maverick," it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone that this longtime favorite has now been similarly mined.
With a great deal of hope and even more money - reportedly around $115 million - riding on the production, the question is whether Will Smith, Kevin Kline and director Barry Sonnenfeld can recapture the magic and fun of the original series.
Well, despite the fact that Sonnenfeld successfully adapted "The Addams Family" and helmed other fun films such as "Men in Black" and "Get Shorty," this is a bloated, big budget dud. All looks and little substance, the film is visually appealing - what with all the elaborate production design, costly special effects and fun costumes - but clearly shows that the same detail was not applied to its story.
Whenever a film's writing credits include a relatively large team - in this case, screenwriters S.S. Wilson & Brent Maddock ("Tremors," "Short Circuit") and Jeffrey Price & Peter S. Seaman ("Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" "Doc Hollywood") who work from a story by Jim & John Thomas ("Executive Decision," "Predator") - you can almost positively assume that it was a troubled production and that the end result will be less than satisfactory, much less satisfying.
Whether the film suffers from the "too many cooks in the kitchen" scenario, or simply fell under the old and misguided belief that a big director, stars and an enormous budget alone can spell success, for the most part this one is a boring mess. Apparently, no one involved learned anything from watching 1997's similarly overblown dud, "Batman and Robin."
Thus, one may question where the blame should fall. In short, pretty much all across the board. Obviously the story - or lack thereof - is a good starting point. Although it follows the basic outline from most of the original show's episodes - the two agents track down a villain and use their fists and gadgets to defeat him - the film's expanded plot is listless, uninvolved, and lacks the fun spark one expects from a presumed summer blockbuster.
Instead of creating an interesting premise, villain and overall story, the screenwriter sextet makes the same mistake another big budget film did earlier this summer. Working under the nearly always incorrect assumption that bigger is better, the film may appear to have more razzle dazzle, but in doing so, jettisons a decent or interesting story.
As such, the filmmakers put too much reliance on the special effects to carry the picture. Case in point is the gargantuan, fireball spewing, mechanical tarantula. While the film's smaller gadgets are fun and somewhat believably appropriate for the time period, the big spider is nothing but a clear case of overkill. Not only is it completely unbelievable and incongruous with the setting, but it's nothing more than effects for effect's sakes and simply serves as filler in place of story.
That visual effect and many others may look impressive, but they clearly don't belong in this film. The same holds true for other means of included transportation - such as a tank as well as a flying machine that predates the Wright Brothers by many decades - and a series of jokes or comments that are obviously aimed at contemporary viewers. While some may laugh at West saying "No more Mr. Knife Guy" (instead of "nice guy") after dispatching a knife-wielding villain or Artemis saying he'll call his airplane "Air Gordon," such moments aren't right for this film.
Nor is Will Smith, or at least the way he in which he plays his character. While I've enjoyed most everything in which Smith ("Enemy of the State," "Men in Black") has starred, his often contemporary mannerisms clash with the film's period setting and he often looks and acts like he's lost amongst the proceedings. That said, his mere presence does at least makes the film easier to watch, but I only wished he played the character a bit more like Robert Conrad (yes, still the only Jim West) did in the original show.
Kevin Kline ("In & Out," "Dave"), on the other hand, does a fairly decent job playing Artemis Gordon and kudos should go to the casting director for the inspired choice. Although he's occasionally given some similarly stupid lines and actions to perform, for the most part he delivers a good take on the character.
As the disabled, but crazed villain, Kenneth Branagh ("Celebrity," "The Theory of Flight") obviously chose the scenery chewing/mustache twirling approach for playing his character. While he looks and acts far different from how most are accustomed to seeing him (usually in more refined, Shakespearean-type roles), he suffers from a severe case of character underdevelopment (and the entire legless bit achieved by special effects is far too reminiscent of Gary Sinise's character in "Forrest Gump").
The same absence of development holds true for Salma Hayek ("54," "Fools Rush In") who's only apparent requirement for appearing in the film was to flash her pretty lashes and show as much cleavage as possible along with a double glimpse of part of her bare derriere. Bringing up the rear (some pun intended) is Ted Levine ("Flubber," "The Silence of the Lambs") as the crusty old war veteran in a role and performance that are both instantly forgettable.
The pretty much sums of the film. Without a decent story, much chemistry between any of the leads - in particular, regarding West and Gordon who are placed in the old "cop partners who don't get along" setup - and some moments that land completely dead in the water, the film wastes its talented cast, crew and the potential for what could have been a fun, albeit unnecessary remake.
Overall, it simply has the look and feel of a bloated, big budget production where everyone was afraid to point out just how silly, stupid or outright bad some of the scenes -- particularly as the film draws to a close -- actually were. Although it's not completely horrendous to sit through and clearly isn't as bad as 1998's overstuffed bomb, "The Avengers," this film could and should have been much better.
As far as the disc itself, both the video and audio are first-rate (despite a glitch in a layer transition that hung up our Sony player in one chapter) and the supplemental materials (including the ever insightful running audio commentary) are plentiful enough to keep fans of the film and/or those just interested in the movie-making process busy while taking in all of them.
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