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WILD WILD WEST Send This Review to a Friend
I thought "The Mummy" was the worst studio film I'd seen by mid-1999. Having experienced "Wild Wild West," I'm no longer so sure. What a mess! Barry Sonnenfeld, who has such worthy credits as "Men in Black" and "Get Shorty," directed from a screenplay by four writers, who deserve to be identified--S.S. Wilson, Brent Maddock, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. There's enough blame to go around.
Apart from the occasional laugh snared by such expert performers as Kevin Kline and Will Smith, the film that takes off from the television show is a hodgepodge of inane plotting, boring action, stupid dialogue and sci-fi contraptions like a giant walking monster that looks as if it were built with an over-sized erector set. The locale is the post-Civil War West. The villain is Dr. Loveless, half a man--a ruthless Southern schemer with the lower half of his body missing. It's a part seemingly written with half a brain. Loveless intends to destroy the United States government with the aid of kidnapped scientists. Distinguished British actor Kenneth Branagh fritters away his talent and reputation to play the villain.
Battling Dr. Loveless is Kline as a scientist with his own genius for invention and Smith as a federal agent with an eye for the ladies, who have an eye for him. Kline doubles as President Ulysses S. Grant. No matter how much charm Kline and Smith have, they are thoroughly wasted in this silly, rambling tale. Likewise, no matter how many gimmicky mechanical props are used, no amount of overkill helps. A Warner Brothers release.
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