Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more

 

Wild Wild West (1999)

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Nominally a modern update on a long-forgotten '60s TV show, this monument to the vacuous excesses of chequebook cinema highlights the desperation of those who throw money at the screen hoping it will buy them a blockbuster. Back in the Old West, sassy marshal James West (Smith) and gadget master Artemus Gordon (Kline) are the two federal agents assigned to track down just who has been kidnapping the country's top scientists. Rita (Hayek) is the gal along for the ride since her dad is one of the disappeared. Dr Arliss Loveless (Branagh, beyond excruciating) is the megalomaniac techno wizard behind it all, a vengeful Confederate who now plans the overthrow of the US government. What happens? Lots of explosions as Branagh's giant mechanical tarantula runs amok, lots of gizmos as Kline rigs up a secret weapon on rails, and absolutely - repeat absolutely - no laughs from a pitiful script. A profound fog of boredom swiftly descends, quite unrecognisable as the work of the Barry Sonnenfeld who put such zip into Men in Black.

Author: TJ 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide


  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields





Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.