Line #13 YMMV/WildWildWest


1	* AdaptationDisplacement: Not everyone who has seen (or even heard of) this film is aware of the TV show it's based on, an impression helped by there being no mention of said show on the credits. This is especially true outside North America.
2	* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
3	** There are some who think that when Rita lied when she said [[spoiler: Professor Escobar was her husband rather than her father]] in order to dispose of Jim and Artemus after stringing them along with the hint of sex if they succeeded.
4	** When Gordon asks to be shot in the heart (because he's wearing a bulletproof vest), Dr. Loveless coldly orders his henchwoman to [[BoomHeadshot shoot him in the head.]] Was he just being a dick, or did Gordon's overly wordy request raise his suspicions and he decided that a headshot would be the smart option?
5	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic
6	** For all of the film's mixed reception, Music/ElmerBernstein's score is fantastic, with some saying that the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq6bD4IC2MA opening theme]] deserved a better film. Especially since this turned out to be the last Western that this master of scoring Westerns ever did.
7	** The "Wild Wild West" song was ''everywhere'' when this movie came out. Beware. If you remember the words, it'll get stuck in your head forever.
8	** Same for the song "Bailamos" by Music/EnriqueIglesias, another song from the film's album and his first mainstream song to American audiences.
9	* CatharsisFactor: West causing Loveless to plunge to his death after all the horrible stuff he did.
10	* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Arliss Loveless]] is a former [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Confederate slaveholder]] and a technology expert with no allegiance to anyone but himself. He kidnaps a group of scientists to build new weapons of war for him, [[OffWithHisHead decapitating one of them]] for trying to warn the President. He slaughters General [=McGrath=]'s men in front of him with a tank prototype as punishment for surrendering to the North during the [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Civil War]], using the General's men as target practice; he kills the General himself when [=McGrath=] demands that he stop the massacre. He plans to destroy the United States unless the President surrenders to his new alliance, and firebombs a random frontier town to prove his point. Despite his earlier slaughter of a former Confederate troop for their disloyalty, he [[{{Hypocrite}} sells out]] the Confederacy that he fought for when he presents his plan to carve up the whole country amongst himself and a collection of foreign powers. In addition, it's revealed that he previously used his tank to wipe out a settlement of freed slaves, [[YouKilledMyFather including Jim West's family]], also for target practice.
11	* CriticProof: Despite both bad reviews and failing to recoup its production and marketing expenses, the film still attracted an audience, grossing $113.8 million in North America and another $108.3 million overseas, for a total of $222.1 million worldwide, and, adjusted for inflation, sold more tickets in North America than Smith's "return to form" film, ''Film/MenInBlack3''. Smith famously bragged; ''"[[BadassBoast That's how big I am. I]] '''[[BadassBoast bomb]]''' [[BadassBoast over $100 million.]]"'' There have also been reports of some of the ticket buyers actually being underage teens who were sneaking into ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'' (which was released the same day) after having bought tickets to this movie.
12	* CrossesTheLineTwice: A Black man and a Disabled paraplegiac hurling pun-based insults regarding each other should not be funny, but lo and behold it is here.
13	* FanPreferredCutContent: Many people would have rather seen the Creator/RichardDonner[=/=]Creator/ShaneBlack version of the film.
14	* HamAndCheese: A large part of what makes this film SoBadItsGood. Mostly comes from Creator/KennethBranagh and Creator/KevinKline, though Creator/WillSmith is certainly not restraining himself.
15	* HesJustHiding: Some fans like to hope one or more of Loveless’s BodyguardBabes survive being knocked off the 80-foot spider vehicle.
16	* HilariousInHindsight: The Spider Tank looks a tad too much like [[VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance Metal Gear EXCELSUS]].
17	* MemeticMutation: The Spider Tank, which has since become associated with producer Jon Peters' obsession with giant spiders due to an anecdote from Creator/KevinSmith.
18	* MisBlamed: Contrary to popular belief, Jon Peters was ''not'' responsible for the giant spider. That was from the original script and Peters was actually ''against'' it, but Creator/BarrySonnenfeld stuck up for it.
19	* OlderThanTheyThink: Two years before the film's release, the animated CattlePunk series ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfZorro1997'' already featured an episode where a mad scientist bound to a steampowered wheelchair creates a giant walking robot equipped with cannons to get revenge on his enemies. Even the design of the professor's wheelchair is so similar to that of Loveless that it makes the whole coincidence unlikely.
20	* QuestionableCasting:
21	** The painfully obvious one. RaceLift aside, Creator/WillSmith's NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent.
22	** Shakespearean thespian Creator/KennethBranagh as a wheelchair-bound evil {{Steampunk}} genius. It doesn't stop him from giving a good performance even with a bad accent that sounds more natural than anything his American costars use.
23	** Creator/KevinKline as StraightMan Artemus Gordon (which was hated by Kline, leading to rewrites that blurred the line with TheFunnyGuy Jim West) and President Grant in the same movie. And the same scene. And then they had Kline as Gordon impersonate Kline as Grant. The Symbolism, if any, is clearly [[FauxSymbolism Faux]].
24	*** Actually, when it comes to the President Grant casting, this is more along the lines of Fridge Brilliance. Artemus Gordon in the original series was the disguise specialist and frequently wore one when he and Jim were investigating. Anything from fishermen to chefs to an upper crust dandy. However, you could still tell that it was Creator/RossMartin no matter what the disguise was. If the role of Grant had been cast with another actor and Creator/KevinKline was just Gordon, when he disguises himself near the end, it would be pretty clear which one was actually Grant. By having Kline play both roles, it means that Kline's President Grant disguise is going to be flawless, because he's playing both roles.
25	* {{Squick}}: The film proper starts out with Jim West romancing a lady - in a water tower. Somebody's going to drink that.
26	** It actually looks like they were in the tank used to refill the boiler tank on steam locomotives.
27	* SoBadItsGood: Consensus is that the film is an endless failed attempt at humor, combined with bizarre casting choices and a script that doesn't respect its source material, but few would call the result a boring product by any stretch of the word. It helps that the film is quite of a spectacle, with gadgets and effects able to make {{Steampunk}} fans drool, an epic soundtrack, and a cast in full HamAndCheese.
28	* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Creator/KevinKline put in a lot of work to portray UsefulNotes/UlyssesSGrant correctly by reading everything he could about the president and interviewing Grant scholars. He then put in a performance so distinguished from Artemus Gordon that many didn't realize he played two characters in the film.
29	** For his part, Creator/KennethBranagh gives it his all in his role as Loveless, never acts like the role is beneath him, and creates a villain you love to hate.
30	* ValuesDissonance: The RunningGag of West and Loveless engaging in VolleyingInsults about the other being disabled and black, respectively. Barely acceptable in the edgy late 90s, very much not today. It still CrossesTheLineTwice at points, though.
31	* ValuesResonance: Despite the film's numerous shortcomings, this is one of the few high-profile Hollywood Westerns that isn't named ''Film/BlazingSaddles'' that openly acknowledges the fervent racism of the setting and time that existed against African-Americans. Loveless is also a white supremacist who seeks to restore the Confederacy and these are unambiguously and unapologetically treated as villainous acts.
32	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Regardless of the film itself, it must be noted that the visual effects are quite good and still hold up nicely more than twenty years later.

Context YMMV / WildWildWest