Wild Wild West

Day 105 - 4/15/09 - Movie #103

BEFORE: Yeah, I know...it's not exactly "Unforgiven", and the camp factor will probably be very high. But there aren't too many Westerns left on my list, and I did enjoy the Robert Conrad TV show when I was a kid. (It was basically James Bond in the old west...get it, "we'll just call him James West - brilliant!") But the movie does have Kevin Kline, and I like Kevin Kline...

THE PLOT: The two best hired guns in the West must save President Grant from the clutches of a 19th century inventor-villain.

AFTER: This movie is beyond ridiculous, well past improbable, with technology that not only was impossible in 1869, most of it's not possible NOW. Kenneth Branagh as a Southern scientist who's missing the lower half of his body is just...odd, but there's some good character work from M. Emmet Walsh and Ted "It puts the lotion in the basket" Levine. Some of the James Bond conventions apply - it's very sporting of the villains to state all their evil plans and hideout locations out loud, within earshot of the heroes! Although the film had lots of action and was fairly entertaining, the campiness overwhelmed everything else.

RATING: 6 out of 10 billiard balls