Wild Wild West (1999)

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Starring: Will Smith, Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh

The two best hired guns in the West must save President Grant from the clutches of a nineteenth-century inventor-villain.

I probably enjoyed this over-ambitious project more than I should have. From an adventure and entertainment perspective, this preposterous film satisfied the need for action adventure fantasy western. The film has so many genres thrown in the mix and they even attempted heartfelt drama but to no avail. There was simply no place for sympathy in a film like this, which is essentially a slapstick comedy with an overload of special effects. In fact, not a single frame of this film is ‘normal’.

The film also had a lot of racist remarks, but thanks to Will Smith’s witty sense of humor, it was actually funny when it could have been offensive. Homosexual connotations galore, they also used any excuse to clad Will and Kevin in women’s clothing, making me wonder about director Barry Sonnenfeld’s inclinations.

The dialogue is witty and well written, the film fast paced and some visuals are really awesome. The train and wild west setting was everything I enjoyed in a film, and the score gave it a superhero feel. This might not be a great film, but it is highly original and a great escape from reality.