Prime Time: Wild Wild West (1999)

When Wild Wild West was first released, I wasn’t familiar with the TV show it was based on. I just got excited at the prospect of another blockbuster comedy pairing up director Barry Sonnenfeld with Will Smith. I also liked Kevin Kline, a LOT, Kenneth Branagh, and any decent-sized role for Salma Hayek. That excitement may be long gone now, it started to dissipate during my first viewing of the movie, but little else has changed. I am still unfamiliar with the TV show this was based on, and I still like the main cast assembled for it.

Smith plays James West, a skilled and sharp-shooting special agent who ends up partnered with Agent Artemus Gordon (Kline). Gordon prefers to use inventions and disguises to help him achieve his aims, while West prefers a much more direct approach. Both men have to work together as they try to apprehend the devious Dr. Arliss Loveless (Branagh), a man who lost his legs during wartime, but makes up for that handicap with a number of inventions, from a “super-charged” wheelchair to a huge mecha-spider vehicle, that give him an advantage over his enemies. Oh and Salma Hayek plays Rita Escobar, a women who ends up accompanying West and Gordon for part of their journey.

Arguably most famous nowadays for featuring a creation mentioned in a Kevin Smith anecdote (one of the producers on this movie REALLY had a hankering for a giant spider to feature as a third act menace), Wild Wild West is a real oddity. Some of the comedy works, some of the action is nicely put together, and the steampunk element provides some cool visuals, but the very essence of the film seems to work against the charisma of all of the leads.

Smith constantly feels as if he is cosplaying, too cool to play his cowboy in a more straightforward way, Branagh does too much moustache-twirling while murdering his attempt at an American accent, and Kline doesn’t get enough moments to shine, which is even more annoying when you have scenes that fleetingly show just how funny he can be. Hayek is given no real arc, the movie would work just as well without her (although I, for one, am glad she is in it), while there is more care and attention given to supporting turns from Ted Levine, Musetta Vander, and Bai Ling.

There are, as expected, numerous writers credited with the end result here. You get the names of the people who delivered the TV show concept, but you also get S. S. Wilson and Brent Maddock (originators of a certain graboid hit), who then claim that their original screenplay was severely reworked by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman (who only had a couple of other movie writing credits before this, but one of those was Who Framed Roger Rabbit). Whoever was most responsible for it, the end result is a mess, and Somnenfeld is unable to improve it.

The direction is competent, but weighed down by the script. There’s no decision to make someone a straight man, which just leads to the laughs being spread thinner amongst everyone (including Branagh), and thereby ever any real sense of danger. This is a romp, nothing more, and that in itself isn’t a terrible thing. It just also happens to have a few dull patches throughout the runtime, an inability to have more fun with the clash between the traditional Western ways and the technology available to the characters, and even the Elmer Bernstein score can’t help. At least you get to hear the funky Will Smith theme song over the closing credits.

Wild Wild West is a mess, but it is one I feel the need to check in on at least once a decade or so. I always suspect that I am misremembering it, that I like it more than most people. I’m not misremembering it, and I don’t. Although I might be a bit more generous to it than most.

4/10

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The Crow (1994)

Forever enshrouded in an air of macabre, due to the death of star Brandon Lee during the filming of the movie and the whole premise, The Crow was a great success when first released, and has since maintained a loyal following over the past two decades. Some of that success, undoubtedly, stems from people who became curious about the movie after hearing of the fatal on-set accident, but I like to think that some, if not most, of it stems from the fact that it's a great movie, boosted by a charismatic lead turn from Lee, working at his very best.

Eric Draven (Lee) is a musician and a man very much in love with his fiance, Shelly (Sofia Shinas). Well, he WAS. You see, a bunch of thugs broke into their apartment, raped and assaulted Shelly and threw Eric out of a window. Eric died, while Shelly battled with pain for 30 hours before finally succumbing. A police officer (Ernie Hudson) stayed with her, in the hope of getting a statement that would help him catch the criminals, but nothing could be done. One year later, Eric is brought back from the dead. He crawls out of his grave, watched by a crow, and staggers around while he figures out just why he is back. It soon becomes clear what he has been brought back for. Revenge.

Based on a comic by James O. Barr, The Crow has a solid screenplay, by David J. Schow and John Shirley, and is directed brilliantly by Alex Proyas. From beginning to end, this is a treat for the eyes. Some (okay, quite a few) of the special effects have already dated a bit, but whether it's a view of events through the eyes of the crow or a shot showing Brandon Lee athletically swinging around on a window frame, every scene has at least one or two gorgeous moments. The ears are also well looked after, with a soundtrack that features a great score by Graeme Revell weaving in between tracks by The Cure, Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against The Machine and many more.

Michael Wincott is a villain, accompanied by the likes of Tony Todd, David Patrick Kelly, Angel David, Laurence Mason, Michael Massee and Bai Ling. Wincott rules every scene that he is in, as you might expect, but the pleasant surprise is just how each villain gets just enough time to show their defining characteristics before death comes calling for them. Jon Polito also gets a few good moments, playing a cowardly pawnbroker profiting off the misery of others. Anna Levine is good as the drug-addicted mother of the young girl (Rochelle Davis) who soon puts two and two together to work out the identity of the avenger with the painted face. Hudson is warm and likable and brilliant in his role, and then there's Lee, who gives a performance that I like to think would have taken his career up to another level, had his life not been cut short by that terrible accident. But that's something that we'll never know.

What I do know is that The Crow has aged pretty well. Detractors can pick apart some of the FX work and the excessive rock video style of a number of moments, but there are plenty of set-pieces and electric scenes that more than make up for any failings. Fans will enjoy revisiting this one, and anyone who has yet to see it should do so whenever they get the chance.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crow-Collectors-Edition-Blu-ray-Brandon/dp/B000IMVMFM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1391374402&sr=8-2&keywords=the+crow