Is Wild Wild West really THAT bad?: Just Films and That
Just Films & That is a podcast that celebrates underrated and underseen films. In this episode, we take a look at famous flop Wild Wild West from 1999. So, is it really as bad as people say it is? You can listen to all episodes of Just Films and That now, wherever you get your podcasts
Transcript
00:00 [MUSIC]
00:09 >> Wild Wild West is a steam punk Western from 1999.
00:13 It tells the story of two special agents in the Wild West,
00:16 who are trying to stop the dastardly plans of
00:18 a Confederate scientist who is seeking revenge for the Civil War.
00:22 So Josh, you picked this one,
00:23 so tell us a bit about why you picked it.
00:25 >> Usually considered to be one of the most famous flops in film history.
00:30 It was a critical bomb,
00:32 it was a box office bomb.
00:34 So I picked this because I think it's not great,
00:36 but I don't think it is as bad as the scores suggest.
00:40 At the time of recording on IMDb,
00:42 it gets 4.9 out of 10.
00:44 Over on Rotten Tomatoes, the audience give it 28 percent,
00:48 and the critics give it 16 percent,
00:50 one-sixth, 16 percent.
00:52 I think it's a flawed film,
00:54 but I think there's probably a little bit of fun to be
00:56 had if you switch your brain off a little bit.
00:58 So had you seen this one before?
01:00 >> I hadn't seen it before,
01:01 but like you said, and all the rhetoric around it,
01:03 I was expecting a disaster, and it wasn't.
01:06 It was actually really enjoyable,
01:08 and I found so much in there that I did like.
01:10 So I really love the melding of these two things,
01:13 of the steam punk and the Western thing.
01:15 I think the aesthetic that you get from that is really
01:18 impressive and really engaging and just so atmospheric.
01:21 Because there's a lot of scientist type people in this,
01:24 and inventors, you get a load of really wacky inventions,
01:27 and these all look really fun and really interesting.
01:30 I also think Will Smith is pretty excellent in this.
01:33 I think he gives a fantastic performance,
01:35 and his co-stars as well,
01:36 I do think did a terrific job.
01:38 Just in general, I had a lot of fun watching this,
01:41 a lot more than those scores would suggest.
01:44 >> Overall, I thought it was an okay action film.
01:47 I thought there's some good action set pieces in it.
01:48 I was never bored.
01:50 It's not perfect, but I'll definitely say I was never bored.
01:53 What were some of the things you didn't like about it?
01:55 >> So there were quite a few smaller things,
01:58 but I think the main thing for me was that at times,
02:00 it just went over the top in being too cartoony,
02:04 and a little bit too directed at children,
02:06 which didn't really align with a lot of
02:08 the other things that were going on in the film,
02:10 which really surrounded around very adult themes.
02:13 Some of the ways in which they treat
02:15 the other characters in particular,
02:16 the women and some of the language in this film,
02:18 feels like it's much more directed at an older audience.
02:21 You'd have some sequences and some events that just felt really cartoony,
02:25 really childlike, and really immature.
02:28 So it did leave me thinking,
02:29 who is this for?
02:30 Is it clear who the target audience is,
02:32 and is the film delivering what that audience is going to expect?
02:36 >> I think there's definitely issues with the script.
02:37 The script reeks of multiple writers
02:40 having their fingers in the pie, as it were.
02:42 So on the one hand,
02:44 they're going for action, slightly more adult,
02:46 and on the other side,
02:47 they're going for family fun in places.
02:49 What would you say? Is this underrated?
02:51 Are you going to give me this one?
02:53 >> Oh, I completely agree with you.
02:54 It's obviously flawed,
02:56 but it is nowhere near as bad as those scores would suggest.
02:59 So yeah, I think Wild Wild West is underrated.
03:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]