A Western flop that Will Smith considered the biggest mistake of his career (but it’s extremely entertaining)

Kenneth Branagh in overacting mode, plus a charismatic buddy duo and a gigantic robo-spider in the Wild West. When I saw Wild Wild West in the cinema in 1999, my youthful soul succumbed to the charm of the endlessly over-the-top sci-fi Western. But that left me pretty lonely. Because the film by Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld was an unparalleled financial failurealthough Independence Day star Will Smith starred.

The actor still considers Wild Wild West to be a “thorn in his side” and one of the biggest mistakes of his career.

Will Smith rejected The Matrix and made it a flop

In any case, Smith can laugh again about his career decisions. In a video in 2021 he explained the background to his decision against the later classic Matrix and in favor of Wild Wild West. He simply found the concept of Matrix to be too abstract. Or at least more abstract than a steampunk western from its Men in Black director. At that time he also stated:

I would go to Wild Wild West come back and I would say: ‘Asshole, why didn’t you do The Matrix?’

In Wild Wild West, Smith doesn’t play a chosen one, but a top agent in the USA in 1869. Together with an unlikely colleague (Kevin Kline), he is supposed to find out why the best scientists in the United States are gradually disappearing. Behind it is a southern millionaire (Kenneth Branagh) who lost several limbs and organs in the Civil War and replaced them mechanically. This is also how the robo-spider comes into play.

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The story smells like a subversive reckoning with the southern myth, which still lives on in the USA today despite losing the civil war. However, the reality of Wild Wild West is different. Instead of a Django Unchained in blockbuster format, Barry Sonnenfeld made a largely dumb summer blockbuster with tasteless jokes.

A quality blockbuster looks different, but Wild Wild West has the aura of a sleek line of white powder being vacuumed away on a desk somewhere in Hollywood. It can be done differently fun conglomerate of bad ideas not explain.

This is how you can watch the sci-fi western

Anyone who wants to watch Wild Wild West should sweep their pretensions under the rug and embark on a journey into a strange era – not the 1860s, but the 1990s, in which the blockbuster business burned money with a complete lack of sense and reason.

Wild Wild West has recently been added to the Amazon Prime Video catalog. Alternatively, you can stream the film on Sky WOW.