On W List of Movie Reviews
(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)
Westworld (1973)
Rate:
5
Viewed:
3/17
3/17:
Before there was Jurassic Park, there was Westworld, and before there was
Arnold, there was Yul as the Terminator.
Yul Brynner is back as Chris Adams from The Magnificent Seven, but this time, he's
a robot. He moves, talks, and acts like one. Although not having much of screen time, he dominates the show which is why
I wanted to see Westworld in the first place.
To understand Yul Brynner's influence upon others, here's a movie trivia from IMDb: "Director John Carpenter based the
'indestructable' nature of his killer Michael Myers in Halloween on Yul Brynner's character
in this film. Similarly, Arnold Schwarzenegger used Brynner's performance as the basis of his performance in
The Terminator."
Although the premise is neat and interesting, the execution is poor, and the weak, meandering script is one-dimensional and thus
technical for my liking. The film keeps going back and forth between Medievalworld and Westworld. Romanworld is
hardly touched, causing a severe imbalance in the grand scheme of things.
The main characters, Peter Martin and John Blane, are sufficiently developed, but who are the others partaking of the
Medievalworld? The concept of machines malfunctioning and operating on their own had already been covered in
2001: A Space Odyssey. Even more disturbing is the idea of robot-prostitutes. Do
the characters realize what they are? And they're cold-blooded?
How is it possible drinking water causes a robot to short–circuit but not whiskey? If guns cannot be used on human beings
because of their body temperature, then how are they going to be okay against swords and maces? How about the falling rocks and
other objects? Are they technically programmed, too? Given the scant number of guests in the amusement park and the amount of
physical destruction, how will the company have the money to keep up with the maintenance and size of the workforce? It all seems
to be financially unfeasible.
All in all, Westworld is a poorly-directed sci-fi Western flick with lots of logic problems and a somewhat disappointing
performance by Yul Brynner.