Hey pardners, Harry here, this time with the other film that Moriarty should've created a clone to go see... but who the hell needs a clone... We had another pair of AICN evil geniuses checking WILD WILD WEST out.... That's right... Boris and Natasha. These spies are soooooo in vogue at the moment that Rene Russo and Jason Alexander are so enraptured by the calamatous couple that they are playing them in a big budget live action Universal movie named after their nemesis.... Bullwinkle (not being played by Joe Farrell) This was an extremely rough print of the film. And is not the final film. Many changes will be made between now and release... but hey... When STAR WARS was about halfway done, Spielberg's quote was "OH MY GOD" Now Will Smith has been chiming off that this movie will bury STAR WARS... SO let's see if the movie... even in it's rough state has left Boris and Natasha a pair of drooling piles of protoplasm...
Boris and Natasha here. Last night, after
being foiled once again by Moose and Squirrel, we thought we'd attend a
screening of at our local Googolplex.
First off, there were many geeks in the line for the movie. I'm sure ours is
not the only review that your going to receive from this screening. We heard
geekspeak everywhere. The great thing about us geeks, though, is our ability
to blend in. The suits couldn't distinguish us from the regular folks.
By the way, the suits were out in force and there were limos everywhere. They
told us we were here for a screening of Matrix. A screening of a movie that
comes out in two weeks? Come on. We knew something was up. In line they told
us, "How would you like to see "The Wild Wild West" instead?" There were many
groans but the theater filled up anyway.
By the way. they searched us with hand held barking metal detectors on the way
in.
On to the movie. We'll give you both of our reactions separately.
Here's Boris' opinion:
I'll try to keep this spoiler free, but I may get into it a bit. I must stress
that what I saw was a very rough cut. Lots of non-finalized shots (had that
video look to them), unfinished special effects, etc. I got the feeling they
kind of slapped this together to get our reaction to characters, special
effects etc. At least, that's what I hope because they didn't build to the
action scenes very well.
I didn't watch the series that this is based on a lot, but I did watch it
occasionally. I think this movie will disappoint fans of the series. But let's
face it, people who watched the series are not the inteneded audience for this
movie. The crowd that the suits drafted for the screening was 90% 25 and
under.
The opening sequence is really poorly edited. I mean, they should just cut the
whole thing out. It was horrible. Also, there are also some things in the
movie that just don't make sense (like, how long can a black man dressed as a
cowboy walk around a white party in the deep south shortly after the Civil War
without getting a reaction from any of the guests? Apparently, quite a long
time.)
There are some pretty funny jokes though, which I don't want to ruin. But a
lot of the jokes miss. I think we had a couple suits sitting near us during
the screening cuz they laughed at everything for the first half of the movie,
often when no one else in the theater was laughing.
Will Smith's character is pretty generic, lacks that Jim West charm from the
TV show. But Will Smith does have a lot of charisma, so he's all right to
watch. Selma Hayek is good for a while but then she gets whimpy and doe-eyed.
Kenneth Branaugh is making some money here, and that's all there is to say
about that. Kevin Kline is okay but I wish he was a bit more geeky.
But here's a great reason to see the movie: Selma Hayek in lingerie, talking
in her sexy voice, and the upper part of her bare butt, twice. Rrrroooowwwwww!
Ah, if they only put these scenes on a two-hour loop. But I digress...
Special effects - the spider looks good. Kind of looks like what would happen if
one the bugs in Starship Troopers was put into one of Jeff Goldblum's pods
from The Fly, along with an Imperial Land Walker from Hoth, and an Erector
set, and then sent across the room to the other pod and got all meshed
together into one creature.
Overall, if they clean the movie up, it should be a typical summer action
movie, but not a great one. If I remember correctly, the guy who directed the
movie is the same guy who directed MIB and the Addams family. This movie lacks
the quirkiness of those movies, which is really too bad.
Natasha's opinion:
OK. Here goes: Will Smith's bare butt. This was the only good thing about
the opening sequence. And a yummy butt, indeed. I was put off by the whole
confusing opening sequence. Very poorly edited, and I felt as if I had been
dropped into the middle of the movie. The opening credits were very well
done, Will Smith's new song was gerat. It was rap, and for some reason, I
just can't get into rap in an old Western movie. Strange.
The rest of the movie was fun, but I had a really hard time accepting all the
strange machinery (tanks, spiders, planes, etc.) this was supposed to be shot
in the 1800's just after the Civil War, and was a bit outlandish. I know this
was a rough cut of the final film, but I was distracted by the poorly edited
special effects and action sequences. I found a few continuity problems with
the gadgets on the train that played essential roles in the action sequences.
This undermined the believability of the movie.
Kevin Kline had a good role, but there wasn't a lot of chemistry between him
and Will Smith. He seemed bored. He looks pretty good in drag. Salma Hayek
started off as the movie's heroine, but I was greatly disappointed in the way
her character turns out. She is a beautiful, and somewhat talented actress,
and I would have enjoyed her character if the director hadn't screwed up her
part. Kenneth Brannaugh's bimbo, S & M henchwomen were tougher than she, and
that just isn't right, man. Poor Salma. Kenneth Branaugh's bad-boy,
wheelchair bound villain is silly. Could have been a clever scary guy if they
had not taken away so many vital body parts. His funky beard was pretty cool.
The movie lacked the wierdness of MIB and that was very dissapointing. MIB
had my attention from frame one, and it never slowed down. WWW lacked the
flow and constant visual excitement of MIB. I think it has the potential for
a fun summer action flick, but it will definately not be the best one.
Harry here again... As you can see... they were not completely charmed by the film. Oh well... Let's hope that as the film progresses it picks up on it's action and comedy beats... That a final score will make a great tone to the film that will unite it. Personally, I wish this film had stuck to it's original casting concept of George Clooney and Kevin Spacey. That... That my friends would have been something to get excited about. I'm afraid that coveted 'triple-crown' that Will Smith covets... may be just out of his grasp this time out. But we'll see.
|