By Robert Sims, Special to Hollywood.com
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Thursday, August 14, 2008
6. Wild Wild West (2 stars)
Year of Release: 1999
U.S. Box Office Gross: $113.8 million
Reported Budget: $170 million
The Reassessment: Sure, this revival of the 1960s TV series follows the template Will Smith and director Barry Levinson created for Men in Black. A law-enforcement veteran (Kevin Kline) is paired with a young hotshot (Smith) to save a grateful nation from a bad guy armed with all sorts of futuristic weapons, including a giant mechanical spider. And let’s not forget the beautiful sidekick, played by an in-your-face Salma Hayek. Even if Smith and Kline work well together, Wild Wild West is not as much fun as it should have been. Everything feels forced and unapologetically conventional, from our heroes’ supposedly witty repartee to the outlandish special effects that make you forget you’re watching a Western. Steampunk, Big Willie Style—it was a bad idea then, and it’s a bad idea now.
Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.