Rating 12
Length 1h47
Release 13.0 8.1999
Director Barry Sonnenfeld
About Special Agent Jim West and inventive US Marshal Artemus Gordon are ordered by President Ulysses Grant to team up to save the world from Dr Arliss Loveless’s enormous steam-powered tarantula.
Moon: daytime full moon in the final act
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime
Trailer:
First Thoughts
I loved this movie. It was the steampunk that hooked me. I also adored Will Smith, and once the credits rolled; Kevin Kline.
The Good
Kenneth Branagh is shit! Like, I get that this is his attempt at Rickman’s Sheriff, but it’s so far off the mark that it’s stinks. And that is beautiful! If it wasn’t for this performance, I would not have trusted Branagh as Lockheart in Potter.
To me, this was “The Stuffy Shakespeare dude” who “sang the theme tune, wrote the theme tune” when it came to his 1996 Hamlet and I just didn’t like what he represented. Until this. I knew he was (and is) and incredible actor. I appreciated what he was attempting in accepting the role and it showed me he wasn’t the perfectionist I thought he was. I will also point out; I didn’t know it was him until much later.
Kevin Kline provides a straight man foil of a similar ilk to Rimmer in Red Dwarf. Now, the chemistry between him and Smith doesn’t quite work. Smith is no Lister. However the only person who could have played it better would have been Chris Barrie himself.
The costumes, the steampunk and finally M. Emmet Walsh all make this film *almost* bearable.
The Bad
The element of Jim West’s story, the loss of his parent’s, comes in way too late. We’re way past the halfway mark when it is revealed why West is hellbent on apprehending General McGrath; played a little too well by Ted Levine. This motivation would have encouraged the audience to engage more with the character.
The CGI still stands up. Yes, that should be a good thing. However, it’s an indicator that the budget was not well distributed and more could have been diverted to the script. After all, what’s the point in having stunning visuals if no one will watch them.
The Ugly
The racism commentary and the casting of Will Smith.
I cannot even say that the film is attempting to create a revisionist history like Hamilton or Django Unchained. There are too many writers involved for it to be that clever. Or intentional.
Because of this, it fails where both Hamilton and Django Unchained succeeded. Instead of it being a commentary about racism, it simply presents a black character in a heavily racist landscape. The script then also attempts to “challenge” the racist commentary with “comedic” word play. At the time of it’s release this would have gone over my head, but watching it today; just because Jim West can counter Loveless’ passive aggressive “How nice you could join us and add colour to these monochromatic proceedings” with “When a fella comes back from the dead, I find it an occasion to stand up and be counted.” does not negate the racism, or the ableist intent either for that matter.
Without getting too deep into the social politics of this because I simply don’t know enough to truly comment, however by making a joke of confederative thinking, could confuse younger viewers on what is, and isn’t appropriate to say in society.
On a similar note, I would say much of the same applies to the treatment and commentary of women, particularly those of heavier body shapes. It certainly also applies to Artemus and his concealing himself as a woman during missions. It’s hard to know if we should see it as the art form of drag, or as being coded trans. Either way, the fact that the pay off is that James West mistakes a cis woman as Artemus, makes the whole thing in bad taste.
Final Thoughts
It’s a painful, problematic, film. I don’t know why it was a good idea to watch it again.
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