I was so excited for this movie before it came out. As I started seeing more and more of the concept art and Photos from it, I can't tell you how excited I was getting for it. An Old West James Bond with giant Steampunk machines was the perfect way to update Wild Wild West as a movie.......Until I saw it....
Now to be fair, I do own this film, its one of my guilty pleasures (plus I just collect fun Weird Westerns because there are so few worth collecting)....but I'm under no illusions that its actually a good movie. Its really more like a beautiful brass knob, shiny and pretty on the outside, but totally hollow on the inside. Most of the complaints I had for it since I first saw it I've decided were silly.....Like I was upset that they didn't use the theme, not even a part, in the main credits but Ive since grown to love the music they DID use. Here is the theme and credits music for the film:
Pretty cool, huh? It does a great job of channeling the 1800s AND the 1960s. Of course I was watching this thinking, "here comes the theme!" and it never came.....so maybe I started off on the wrong foot from the beginning. But what really floored me, and this I STILL feel strongly about, is the humor. Most of it falls REALLY flat. "That's a.......Man's.........Head..." was sort of funny until they pushed it to a 4th time....which was intentional (according to Barry Sonnenfeld's feature commentary) but really doesn't work.
That isn't to say that there is a LOT that is good about it however....The design! The machines! The Steampunk Gadgets! The Set Designs! The Costumes! and even the characters. Jim West and Artemus Gordon are great characters. Arliss Loveless is a really good villain....He'd be a GREAT villain if racism wasn't such a big part of his character.
This is the movie that you use to explain Steampunk to people who don't know what it is, but not much else.
I can only give it 2 out of 5 Bloody Spurs
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