Wild Wild West

The grotesquelly underestimated "Wild Wild West" is surely Barry Sonnenfelds's masterpiece. The problem the typical unresponsive or hostile reviewer seems to me to have had with this very popular 1999 film is an inability to make sense of it for what it is: a burlesque of 19th century Southern quasi-fascism in the guise of retro science fiction in a Jules Verne/H.G. Wells mold. (A kind of Right-rearding political correctness similar to that that marred the crtical response to "Brother, Where Art Thou" and scuttled the reputation of the rich and worthwhile "Hurry Sundown" seems at work here.) The film's battle of Black Yankee Will Smith and rebel "salon" dancer-hooker Selma Hyak against a post-bellum alliance of recent Confederate notables, would-be British Imperialist Civil War allies of the Confederacy and proto fascist Prussian militarists is hilarious. The action is better paced, as well as more specatacularly conceived, than that of any other Sonnenfeld film. This is a pop film to evoke the alternative history and retro-science fiction fanatasies of Pynchon's high-art literary masterpieice of late 19th and early 2oth century anarchist.

Why does modern day Hollywood try forcing political correctness on us??? Will Smith as James West trying to save the country in 1869? Sorry but I know my history and this is an insult to it. Consider that in 1869 a black man was nothing more than a freed slave, and would not have been granted such a task befitting John Steed or James Bond. This is not a racist remark. Rather, it's the truth. Just like modern Hollywood to ignore history. Nothing against Will Smith. He is a fine actor. I enjoy his work. However, through no fault of his own, he is seriously miscast in this one. I realize that Hollywood has a dramatic license, but please try to at least make sense.

I watched the TV series as a kid and loved it and was hoping for a hit with this film, but when I heard that Will Smith was being "miscast" as the secret service agent James West, I thought the wagon wheels have already come off this ride and I was right. Will Smith was riding a popularity high at the time and this movie was rewritten abysmally for him. The reality - at that period in our history, a black man would never have been able to move in the circles that they want you to believe he could especially among Southerners or those with allegiance to the "Cause". Kevin Kline is a passable Artie Gordon, Salma Hayek is a waste cavorting scantily clad while spouting cartoonish lines like: "Huhhh, oh he is so brave", and converting the evil genius of Dr Loveless into a Confederate Racist amputee was just plain silly. Except for the sophomoric exchange between West and Loveless where they spew racist epitaphs at each other this movie is a write off. The producers didn't know what they wanted to make here -- a drama, a comedy or bordering on a campy romp. So rent this if you really really really want to hear the jokey epitaph exchange but only if it's 99 cents or less. Instead, spend your hard earn dollars for DVDs of the original series -- even though they were produced in the 60s with less money and without CGI special effects the series is far superior to this pile of horse manure!

Having recently discovered the joys of Steampunk, I ordered this with a bit of anticipation. Loved the tv series as a kid, and this was just as enjoyable.

Great Movie With a sense of humor and creativity. Will Smith and Kevin Kline team up to bring the laughs to a higher level combined with an intersting mix of historical Events that creat a very funny Movie.