UNLIMITED STREAMING
WITH PRIME VIDEO
TRY 30-DAY TRIAL
Home > Adventure >

Wild Wild West

Wild Wild West (1999)

June. 30,1999
|
4.9
|
PG-13
| Adventure Action Comedy Western

Legless Southern inventor Dr. Arliss Loveless plans to rekindle the Civil War by assassinating President U.S. Grant. Only two men can stop him: gunfighter James West and master-of-disguise and inventor Artemus Gordon. The two must team up to thwart Loveless' plans.

...

Watch Trailer

Cast

Similar titles

Reviews

cristynail
1999/06/30

I absolutely love this movie. It was funny and i love who they picked for the two star roles. I love the villain too, you can also find him in a harry potter movie.

More
Eric Stevenson
1999/07/01

This is another bad movie based on a TV show I never heard of before which I have discovered is considered to be great by most people. This is the worst Will Smith movie I've ever seen. It's hard to tell whether this is a goofy movie trying to be serious or a serious movie trying to be goofy. It's just too ridiculous to really take either way. This movie features Smith and Kevin Kline fighting some villain who lost the lower half of his body and uses a giant mechanical spider. It's as dumb as it sounds.The jokes are so predictable, particularly with how we know the woman will be real and not Kline in disguise. Of course, it isn't any more pleasant when Will Smith crossdresses. I was expecting some big climax with explosions but it was instead boring. The lead actress in this movie has practically no purpose in the film at all. I think it's just an excuse to show off her butt. Still, the song on the credit was awesome! *1/2

More
FlashCallahan
1999/07/02

When a body is found and the killer is identified as General 'Bloodbath' McGrath, Capt. James West is sent to find him. Thanks to U.S. Marshal Artemus Gordon, who was also on the case, McGrath manages to escape. Discovering that Dr. Arliss Loveless is the real villain behind everything, West and Gordon must work together to track Loveless down.....When the studio made this, they must have thought that the film was a license to print money. After all Sonnenfeld was on a winner after MIB, and Will Smith could do no wrong. This was made at a time when his name alone was big enough to sell tickets.But even though the film is an unmitigated disaster, it's one of those films like Batman & Robin, The Avengers, and Battlefield Earth that demand repeat viewings because just of how audacious the film was in thinking that it had a chance to be one of the biggest films ever.But it's watchable for all the wrong reasons. Would Smith really sign on to a film like this now, because he's basically hurled racial abuse by all and sundry in this film, and at times instead of being 'utterly hilarious', it's downright embarrassing.For instance, the scene where West and Loveless first meet is so full of discriminating put downs, it's surprising that it hasn't been edited for obscene content.Kline is pretty okay as Gordon, but he's a seasoned actor, and he has a look on his face that says 'this will get me back into the big league'. Kevin, you are so much better than this.Hayek is eye candy, and in the film for nothing more than to have the two main characters have something to altercate about.Branagh takes his role for what it is, a pantomime villain, and appears to be having a whale of a time. But the film is incoherent, very confusing at times, and it just appears that the makers just want as many visually stunning set pieces they can in its duration and hope that will cover the ridiculous narrative.And speaking of narrative, there is no explanation as to the fascination of Spiders, but if you read the history of the films production, you'll find out it was just because Barbara Streisand's Ex had a fascination with them.If only he had a fascination with making a decent film...

More
NateWatchesCoolMovies
1999/07/03

I don't get the hate for Barry Sonnenfield's Wild Wild West. I just don't. It's like I saw a completely different film than the entire rest of the continent. To my knowledge, there's me and a couple other friends I know who love and cherish it, and the rest of the world has seemingly cast it out into the cold, inexplicably bashing it no end. Wtf. It's a rollicking good time, full of a brilliant blend of situational and slapstick humour, lively characters from a great group of performers, incredible production design, and a dash of swash and buckle. It may not have much in common with the 1960's era TV show its based on, but kudos to it for breaking new ground. Will Smith plays Marshall Jim West, a cocky (there's literally a small window of freeze frame where you can see his ebony schlock in full glory. And don't even ask me how I know that), ballsy (ok sorry I'll stop) secret service cowboy badass who is working a case against some nasty villains who want to use president Ulysses S. Grant for diabolical ends. He's led to old foe General 'Bloodbath' McGrath (Ted Levine in a show stopping, wickedly devious southern psycho role) a confederate lowlife who will hopefully lead him to whoever is kidnapping the nation's best and brightest scientists for some Bond villain-ish scheme. West is joined by kooky inventor Artemis Gordon (a classy Kevin Kline) and the two embark on a shoot em up quest to thwart the evil plan of Dr. Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh), a dastardly mega villain with plans for America that don't involve presidents or laws or anything sane. The film is endlessly inventive, wildly funny and parades forth a reel of set pieces, each more amazing than the last until we realize we're actually watching a fifty foot tall steam punk mechanical spider stomp all over the Utah desert (there's a priceless story involving that and the film's odd duck of a producer Jon Peters, which you can watch Kevin Smith regale an audience with over on YouTube). West and Gordon are joined by sultry Rita (Salma Hayek) a Femme Fatale with a hidden agenda who tags along under the guise of damsel in distress. It's just plain fun and I still don't get how anyone could dislike it. Witty barbs, raunchy double entendres and sarcastic banter permeate the wonderful script. Nifty gadgets, detailed costumes and clanking machinery speckle the epic production design. An atmosphere of playful fun oversees all of it from beginning to end. Smith and Kline make a dysfunctional buddy duo for the ages, squabbling right up until the last frame. Branagh hams it up so far over the top as the bad guy that he nearly implodes on himself. Levine is deliciously creepy and crusty. Watch for other gem performances from Bai Ling, M. Emmett Walsh, Debra Christofferson, Sofia Eng, Rodney A. Grant and Musetta Vander. If you've seen it and already love it, good for you let's go have a beer. If you've seen it and hate it, you're a silly bum (to put it mildly). If you haven't seen it, do so, form your own opinion and fall into one of the above two categories. It's a classic for me.

More