Movie Review: Westworld
Westworld is kind of an odd movie. It’s about a resort people can go to, and choose between a vacation in Romanworld, Medievalworld, or Westworld. It’s basically a giant Live Action Role Playing (LARP) game, with robots for the guests to interact with. It stars Yul Brynner as a cowboy, which is my favorite role to see him in. He is a robot cowboy though.
I’m going to tell you right now, do not google the movie trailer on this one. That trailer gives away everything! I try very hard to avoid spoilers, but that was apparently not a consideration back in 1973. Basically, the story follows James, James Brolin and his friend through Westworld. They get to live old-west style, including riding horses, bar fights, and shoot outs.
Considering the age of this movie, the special effects are really spectacular. They hold up remarkably well, and Yul Brynner is menacing as all get-out. There’s very little in this movie that makes you think, “Well, it was the 70′s. We should cut them some slack”.
One interesting fact I found on IMDb’s Westworld page, is that it was written and directed by Michael Crichton (yes, the Jurassic Park guy). This guy obviously uses the Stephen King method of writing, only instead of in every story something normally inocuous becomes frightening, his single plot line is “There’s a huge technological inovation that somehow goes horribly awry”. Seriously, name one book of his that’s not like that.
Guess what else the wonderful Internet Movie Database has shown me?? (God, I love that site). There’s a remake in the works!! I have ceased to be surprised by Hollywood’s constant cannibalization of itself. I can’t even keep track of all the remakes enough to be outraged about them! And that gem of a human being Russell Crowe is rumored to be a part of it. I hardly even want to waste the energy to shake my head in disgust. The only thing that would make it cool would be if Josh Brolin was in it, but I doubt that’ll happen. I think I’ll have to google every movie from now on just to make sure whether or not it’s a remake. Is there no creativity left in the world!??!
