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00:09 >> Wild Wild West is a steam punk Western from 1999.
00:13 It tells the story of two special agents in the Wild West,
00:16 who are trying to stop the dastardly plans of
00:18 a Confederate scientist who is seeking revenge for the Civil War.
00:22 So Josh, you picked this one,
00:23 so tell us a bit about why you picked it.
00:25 >> Usually considered to be one of the most famous flops in film history.
00:30 It was a critical bomb,
00:32 it was a box office bomb.
00:34 So I picked this because I think it's not great,
00:36 but I don't think it is as bad as the scores suggest.
00:40 At the time of recording on IMDb,
00:42 it gets 4.9 out of 10.
00:44 Over on Rotten Tomatoes, the audience give it 28 percent,
00:48 and the critics give it 16 percent,
00:50 one-sixth, 16 percent.
00:52 I think it's a flawed film,
00:54 but I think there's probably a little bit of fun to be
00:56 had if you switch your brain off a little bit.
00:58 So had you seen this one before?
01:00 >> I hadn't seen it before,
01:01 but like you said, and all the rhetoric around it,
01:03 I was expecting a disaster, and it wasn't.
01:06 It was actually really enjoyable,
01:08 and I found so much in there that I did like.
01:10 So I really love the melding of these two things,
01:13 of the steam punk and the Western thing.
01:15 I think the aesthetic that you get from that is really
01:18 impressive and really engaging and just so atmospheric.
01:21 Because there's a lot of scientist type people in this,
01:24 and inventors, you get a load of really wacky inventions,
01:27 and these all look really fun and really interesting.
01:30 I also think Will Smith is pretty excellent in this.
01:33 I think he gives a fantastic performance,
01:35 and his co-stars as well,
01:36 I do think did a terrific job.
01:38 Just in general, I had a lot of fun watching this,
01:41 a lot more than those scores would suggest.
01:44 >> Overall, I thought it was an okay action film.
01:47 I thought there's some good action set pieces in it.
01:48 I was never bored.
01:50 It's not perfect, but I'll definitely say I was never bored.
01:53 What were some of the things you didn't like about it?
01:55 >> So there were quite a few smaller things,
01:58 but I think the main thing for me was that at times,
02:00 it just went over the top in being too cartoony,
02:04 and a little bit too directed at children,
02:06 which didn't really align with a lot of
02:08 the other things that were going on in the film,
02:10 which really surrounded around very adult themes.
02:13 Some of the ways in which they treat
02:15 the other characters in particular,
02:16 the women and some of the language in this film,
02:18 feels like it's much more directed at an older audience.
02:21 You'd have some sequences and some events that just felt really cartoony,
02:25 really childlike, and really immature.
02:28 So it did leave me thinking,
02:29 who is this for?
02:30 Is it clear who the target audience is,
02:32 and is the film delivering what that audience is going to expect?
02:36 >> I think there's definitely issues with the script.
02:37 The script reeks of multiple writers
02:40 having their fingers in the pie, as it were.
02:42 So on the one hand,
02:44 they're going for action, slightly more adult,
02:46 and on the other side,
02:47 they're going for family fun in places.
02:49 What would you say? Is this underrated?
02:51 Are you going to give me this one?
02:53 >> Oh, I completely agree with you.
02:54 It's obviously flawed,
02:56 but it is nowhere near as bad as those scores would suggest.
02:59 So yeah, I think Wild Wild West is underrated.
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