The TV--excuse me; it's not TV, it's HBO--series Westworld takes off from basically the same premise as Michael Crichton's 1973 movie. Some entity has built a fantasy world with very human-looking robots/androids/whatever, and is charging the well-to-do to come in and live out their frontier dreams. Teh "hosts" rebel. The difference is that in this case the artificial "hosts" are supposed to be the sympathetic ones. I've only watched the first episode as of yet, so we'll see how that goes.
What I can say so far is that it's very slick, looking like a big screen movie at a number of points. In different ways it carries big debts to Blade Runner and Dollhouse. There's a lot of sex and violence, or maybe I mean nudity and violence. It feels a bit too pleased with myself. Having an old saloon player piano play Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" is a nifty joke. A few minutes later "Paint it Black" pops up in the score, and they're leaning pretty hard on the joke.
It has Jeffrey Wright and Anthony Hopkins in the cast, which is certainly an asset, although from what I understand Sir Tony is only in the first season. Ed Harris is in it as well, although at least in the pilot he can't project much more than psychopathy. I'll watch a few more eps to see what's what.
2 comments:
We've seen the movie at least recently enough to remember just how relentless Yul Brenner was even if the film itself was overall terrible. The idea of turning a story like it into a series that may go on for several years has the potential for some hilarious scenarios: 'I've been hiding in this barrel for three years and it still isn't safe to get out' or 'You mean there's still nothing but snow cones for dinner?'..
Even if, as you describe, that the robots/androids are the good guys in the tv (hbo) production, does that mean the real people continue to torture them for years or is it that the robots/androids have to keep finding new places to hide?
We've watched a number of limited tv series like Fargo, The Wire, and The Sopranos but the ones that are only limited by reason of their not having been cancelled quite yet can soon lose their attraction. I'll be interested to know how long the show holds your attention.
Is Ed Harris the Yul Brenner character?
The snow cone idea tickles me. The Yul Brynner movie is kind of a weird model for the kind of show they're trying to do. Basically it strikes me as HBO trying to make another Game of Thrones just before the old one shuts down. So kind of far away from this seventies camp.
Having just seen the last episode of the first season I still can't answer that question. The rebellion is part of the premise, but it doesn't really start until the end of the season. Before that it's just troubling glitches. Then they just start slaughtering.
And that's kind of the problem. It's a very good looking show with high quality acting and some clever ideas and funny moments. But it gets to be hollow and repetitive over the long haul. You can hear the writers saying, "We know all that violence can turn you off. Why don't you pay attention to this violence instead?"
Harris is clearly supposed to suggest a parallel with Brynner, but his character is human. Another actor (Jimmi Simpson) plays him as a younger man, although they don't officially reveal they're the same person until the season finale.
Post a Comment