The Wild, Mild, West.
Two
thirds of the way through the flick I finally got what I was waiting for. The
notably energizing theme music for TV version of The WWW. Funny how much that
had to do with enjoyment of the film.
Up to
that point, it was OK, bordering on "let's go". The music was sorely
missing. Elmer Bernstein wrote a "similar" theme to the TV version,
but it did not break any new ground. Instead, it just teased at the old theme,
and I kept waiting for it to soar into it. He always pulled back. Whoever
finally put their foot down and said "We gotta have It", is to be
commended.
That
there was no clear voice to music in not the only problem with the film, but
none of them are fatal flaws. They just keep it on the
ground.
The
chemistry between Klein and Smith is lacking, though they tried, and the idea
of making Jim West a neophyte skeptic got old. Way more fun if he was on top of
everything same as Gordon. Then they would at first be competing from positions
of equal strength until they realize they do know what each other are about.
Branagh is hilarious as the
madman, and his accent, which I thought was European from the TV spots, is
actually a rather bad southern drawl! The music video with scenes of Loveless
blasting away at Smith and Hayek (she is so Wild, Wild, Wonderful!) actually
had more suspense than the film. But the film was released after Columbine, and
there is a feeling that the film was tampered with (read "gutted") to
deal with the raw sensitivities following that tragedy.
The
effects are good (the American Movie Channel ran a special on how they animated
Loveless' mechanical tarantula - 2500 separate 3D animated parts) and there are
some clever, ghoulish bits. At times it was fun, even exciting.
The
truth is, that while WWW is a fun film that can be seen more than once, it just
isn't anything special.
So what is the deal with
WWW?
Why
has this film been savaged from the get-go?
It is
anybody's guess, but I believe there are political (anti-gun) and commercial
(competing movie) interests that wanted to derail the WWW train.
WWW was the first and only film of
the summer to face the media "bomb" syndrome. Buzz is, so everyone
says, there's big problems with the film. Finally, Will is in a big bomb.
So
buzz is as buzz says? Late night talk show hosts jumped on this bandwagon and
strung up WWW to twist in the wind. Well, everybody at the theater the night we
saw it liked it. And it was packed to the gills on a Wednesday night.
What
motives are there for a film to be trashed by media before it has even a week's
run? And there is the rub. Before the film even came out. This makes me
suspicious.
I am
very leery of press, TV and radio opinions, simply because I can no longer
trust them. Having been betrayed too many times by their biased and prejudicial
reporting, even personally at times, I yearn for a return to the days when
opinions were just that, and every story on the nightly news did not have to
have the journalist's own perspective thrown in. I don't think the majority of
them have had the experience in life necessary to offer level judgements.
Not that there is anything wrong
with opinion. Just don't parade it as fact.
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| Did WWW really underperform? Yeah, in
part because of the anti-film hype, in part because of flaws in the production.
But put it in perspective. WWW grossed 113 million in domestic box office
(Washington Post) and is ranked as the
136th
highest grossing movie of all time, in between American Graffiti and Big
(higher) and The Addams Family and Rocky Horror Picture Show (lower). Not bad
company - and they were not bombs! How can Middle-America pass
judgement on something they've not yet seen? (Never mind that Spike Lee is
paving the way for this ability.) How can the hosts like Leno "know"
that this film, or any film, is going to be such a bomb? Maybe they are doing
focus group testing to see if the public is ready to destroy a star, director,
or concept - and if they are, they float trial balloons to see which lamb will
be led to financial and artistic slaughter.
But WWW gets
the bomb buzz even though it is not a bomb, in the same manner Godzilla was not
a bomb, in the same manner that Last Action Hero was not a bomb. All three
savaged before release, all three did more money than "art" films
hailed as successes. And while I suspect that Godzilla and Hero were torn apart
as political payback, I am not sure why they wanted to sandbag this film. Maybe
it was just a Columbine reaction. |
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