Synopsis
When the world gets incredibly bored of vacations to Europe, Africa and any other exotic locations, they turn to a corporation called Delos that can provide them a unique experience. Delos has put together three separate worlds for folks to experience: Roman World, Medieval World and Westworld. Each world allows its visitors (for $1000 a day) to live that particular era as a a fearless occupant. As perfect as it sounds, things go bad when the androids in the parks start to turn bad, and eventually turn on the innocent human visitors. The vacations soon turn to a quest of escaping with their lives.
Michael Crichton’s first venture into directing couldn’t have been a better choice. He creates a scary set of circumstances that has the rich folk of the world finding new ways to entertain themselves through simulated lands from different eras that are run by androids. A decade before James Cameron brought Terminator to the world, Crichton took his own idea of computers turning on their human creators in a more violent, personal manner. What I particularly liked about Crichton’s take is how he established the incredible difference between human and android in the film. The humans seemed to start out hesitant, but once comfortable began to do whatever they like in the simulated world that Delos created for them. This includes abusing (both physically and sexually) the androids of each world without consequences. It’s a perfect world for humans to reside in, especially on vacation.
On the flip side to that coin, Crichton also gave fair warning of what could potentially happen when the machines had simply had enough. As stated in the film, the machines were nearly identical to their human masters, and sometimes beyond identical. As the story of the film flows, the androids begin to separate from their controlled states of being and start taking matters into their own hands. When push comes to shove, especially with the ‘gunslinger’ (Yul Brynner), the androids fight back. Crichton asks how a human would survive if the machines turned on them, especially if they’re better than the humans.
What’s particularly scary about this film is how it reflects on our society right now in 2013. Sure we don’t have killer robots running after us through make believe lands, but we do have issues with technology slowly ruling our lives (I.E. computers that run everything for us, including our cars and houses). Technology makes us lazy and dependent, which at the end of the day could really bite us. When technology goes bad right now then our lives are set back and we literally forget how to do things the ‘old fashion way’. Maybe this reviewer is stretching it a bit, but our dependence on technology to make us happy could very much turn on us if we get too deep into that dependence.
I digress, back to the film. If I had to complain about anything with Westworld, it would be the lack of explanation for the androids turning on the humans. It just seems like Crichton didn’t give good enough explanation for how the androids slowly became resistant to their masters. There’s always some sign or some ‘oh, this isn’t good’ sort of moment (like in Jurassic Park when the fences go down), but that ‘moment’ never arrived for Westworld. It just seemed to happen and then people were running for their lives. Instead of a peak of the story it just literally was a sharp drop off. That killed some of the terror and suspense that might have been built.
With that said, Yul Brynner’s Gunslinger certainly helped to make up for that terror and suspense. Brynner looks intimidating with his own eyes, but add metallic-esque contacts and a very sinister grin and you will send anyone running for the hills. He certainly helped to save the story, though his lines might have been about one-page in length for the entire film. His mere presence defined this film and Crichton’s choice to cast him was spot on. Had he survived from his tragic bout of lung cancer (which took his life in 1985) then he would have made the perfect Terminator for James Cameron. Anyway, Brynner really does shine in his brief role as the first sinister android to take down humans with authority. If you watch Westworld for any reason then let it be for Brynner and his character.
Overall, if you haven’t seen Westworld then just be aware that in 1973 this movie was phenomenal and ahead of its time. Michael Crichton brought some humor, humility and terror to the screen in this very memorable film. Though it is not perfect, it still is darn good.
As for the Blu-ray portion of the movie, it was the middle of the road. The film isn’t as clean as most Warner Home Video re-releases. It had some scenes where it looked absolutely gorgeous (mostly when the sun was out and shining), but also some scenes where heavy artifacts and graininess reared its ugly head. It’s not the worst re-release I’ve seen (not by a long shot, Rain Man still holds that title), but it certainly isn’t the best. There is no color banding or compression issues with it, though.
Finally, as for the special features, here’s what you get:
– Trailer
– TV Pilot for Beyond Westworld (1980)
– Featurette
While there doesn’t seem to be a lot here, there really is. The television pilot for the 1980’s show Beyond Westworld is interesting. Considering what television shows made it out of the 80s, it is surprising that maybe this didn’t do better. There were only five episodes in total for the show, but the acting and actual suspense was good. It might have been the fact that the 1980 show actually takes place right after the 1973 Westworld. It’s tough to ask people to recall a movie seven years prior. The featurette on this release is actually quite cool. You get to see a very young Michael Crichton in his new element and some great interviews. It’s very vintage stuff.