No Normal Western

Smith plays James West a special government agent sent by the president to hunt down Dr. Arliss Loveless (Branagh) and stop his plot for creating the Disunited States of America. West is joined reluctantly by US Marshal (Kline) who is a master of gadgets and is responsible for most of the hi-tech machinery throughout the film.

The Movie

The movie clearly has the style on Men in Black, which is certainly a good point. In the opening 20 minutes the movie really has potential with the introduction of the great Magnetic Collar of death. Unfortunately as the movie progresses it spirals into more and more obscurity and general silliness. It is in no way a bad movie, but please an 80ft Metal Tarantula!

Smith gives a good performance as West, and has some good dialog in the scenes with Loveless, Kline is also good in an almost mad professor role, Hayek is barely used in the movie, and Kennth Branagh seems and odd choice for a villain in this type of movie, but carries it off quite well.

The Disc

Warner always seem to deliver with their flag-ship titles (such as The Matrix) and Wild Wild West is no exception. The picture quality is an outstanding 1.85:1 Anamorphic image (the only superior image I've seen is Austin Powers 2). The same goes for the sound full Dolby Digital 5.1 which is used to great effect.

Extras are very well catered for, with.....

• The Wild Wild West - Will Smith Music video (and a making of documentary for the video)
• Enrigue Iglesias Music Video
• Full Commentary from Director Barry Sonnenfield
• Stills Gallery
• Filmogrpahies
• Theatrical Trailer
• Behind-The Scenes-Documentary
• Loveless' Lair Documentary Gallery (including Good Guys' Gadgets, Wardrobe of the West, Loveless' Ladies, Evil Devices)

Then there are the DVD-ROM features:

• The Steel Assassin (Game)
  
• Artemus Gordon's Mind-Projection Theatre (10 behind-the-scenes minidocumentaries)
  
• Original Theatrical Web Site
  
• Theatrical Trailer Sampler

If only the movie was as good as the disc, then we would have another Matrix on our hands, unfortunately the movie is not a classic, but is an enjoyable action comedy. The DVD is outstanding, and with a price of $14.99 (that’s under £10!!!!) it's worth buying Wild Wild West just to see how a DVD disc should be produced.

Paul Cutting