Watch Westworld For Free

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

'Westworld' is a strange film - a complete mish-mash of genres blending Sci-Fi, action, comedy, Western and supposedly adventure, though there isn't much of the latter at all. The storyline is unusual at best, plain silly at worst, lacking any real coherence or depth and containing some very obvious plot holes. The idea itself isn't such a bad one, and I'm always pro fresh ideas and mixing things up a little, but 'Westworld' never really decides what it wants to be.As a result, the film is sloppy, muddled and never captured my interest fully. It's not helped at all by the characters and their total lack of personality, and the dated special effects, which may have been impressive back in the 70s but will probably make modern day audiences cringe. 'Westworld' tries something different but ultimately comes up short.

This movie is silly. I realize people admire it for what is started, as do I, but the film itself is just goofy. Watching a robotic cowboy slowly walk around trying to kill somebody isn't exactly a the peak of filmmaking achievement.Even though it is silly, however, if you don't think about it, it can be a decently fun time. Richard Benjamin and James Brolin play protagonists with just enough personality to get you to care for them. Yul Brynner is the precursor to the Terminator, a cold and calculating killing machine who will stop at nothing. Again, his cowboy outfit makes him hard to take seriously sometimes, but if you ignore that, it works fairly well.The first half of the film is somewhat dull as we see our two main characters explore the resort and its many offerings. I call it dull because this mostly consists of them drinking at various saloons and getting into an occasional fight. This all builds into a nearly silent final act featuring Brynner's animatronic killer hunting Benjamin down. As stated before, don't think about it, and it's kind of fun.All in all, this movie was fairly revolutionary for its time. But now that we have the privilege of seeing movies that took concepts introduced here and improved upon them, it makes this particular film less impressive by comparison. It's not bad, necessarily, just don't expect a masterpiece of cinema.

Campy as this movie is, you can really see the genius of the premise, written and directed by Michael Crichton. Well ahead of its time in 1973, when computers were far from ubiquitous, it shows the inevitable progression of robot technology, and 'computers designing computers'. There are also some fantastic shot sequences in the second half of the movie, particularly as rogue robot (Yul Brunner) hunts down one of the guests (Richard Benjamin) at Westworld. This also prefetches the 'Terminator' series. Unfortunately, I can only recommend it with reservations, because the first half of the movie is too silly, alternating between cliché scenes in a saloon and lame attempts at humor. Dick Van Patten's character is just ridiculous. The sex scene between Benjamin and the robot prostitute is too, with a corny preamble and then some laugh out loud rolling back and forth. There's just not enough darkness and grit in the first half, and I don't necessarily mean not enough hardcore violence, I mean it's just too light. Part of the problem is in casting Benjamin, and another part is in direction and editing towards a PG rating.The film does redeem itself when the robots snap. Yul Brunner turns in a great performance and the look in his eyes is memorable. There is real tension, and I loved how the film also combined at least parts of 'Medieval World' and 'Rome World' into the story, though it could have done more. You have to cut it some slack for having been made in 1973, and appreciate it for the outstanding premise, the potential of which Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy recognized before creating HBO's series.

Michael Crichton's thriller invariably draws comparison with the author's later JURASSIC PARK, seeing as both stories deal with amusement parks which turn into chaos. However, WESTWORLD is by far the more horrific of the two. Whereas JURASSIC PARK is a film made for children with sweet, sugary sentimentality, WESTWORLD is a brutal, nihilistic affair where the emphasis is on gritty survival horror.And a cracker it is too. WESTWORLD succeeds in building up an elaborate picture of life at the tourist resort. While concentrating the action upon the two main actors, there are also cleverly a lot of cut scenes involving various scientists and lab technicians, and other events taking place at the rest of the resort, so that a picture may build up of the entire proceedings as a whole. This gives the film an authentic sense of scale. The leisurely pace may put off some viewers (it's more than halfway through the film before the horror really begins) but it's well worth sitting through, as a fun depiction of life in a wild west town.The actual mechanical breakdown of the resort is played out nicely, with small events gradually building up into actual death, and the cold murder of James Brolin is very shocking upon first viewing. From then on it's man vs. machine in an early TERMINATOR kind of way. Brynner is definitely a lot like the unstoppable android that Schwarzenegger was, and we can safely say that WESTWORLD is an early version of the killer android on the loose story. Brynner's inhumanity is showed by shots of his computerised vision (quite basic from a modern perspective) and his special powers, such as increased hearing and being able to survive acid thrown in the face. The whole ending of the film, the last 20 minutes, is absolutely fantastic and will have you on the edge of your seat before the inevitable showdown occurs, and then there are still one or two shocks left to make you jump a little.Richard Benjamin (more familiar as a director) is realistic as the everyday Joe caught up in the events who has to fend for himself, while James Brolin has a field day as the laconic sidekick who knows all the tricks. However, the film really belongs to Yul Brynner, who is superbly cast as the cold, android villain, who even manages to gain our sympathy at the end of the film (where he is blinded by the fire). With actual effective special effects, a haunting soundtrack, and lots of important messages about relying on machines too much, WESTWORLD is a total sci-fi classic blending futuristic thrills and wonder with a cold, harsh feeling of dread. One to own.