Westworld Review

 

        It’s rare for an established author to take on a task of writing and directing. Michael Crichton was that talented enough to do those things. Only rarely does an author ever direct something that’s an original idea or an adaptation. The only examples I can think of are Stephen King and William Peter Blatty for directing their written works Maximum Overdrive and Exorcist 3: Legion respectively. Westworld is an underappreciated sci-fi film that has left a legacy none are aware of. 

1. Westworld

        What’s funny about this film is that you would think it takes place in the distant future. Interestingly, it takes place a decade after the film’s release. With that, two friends Peter and John travel to the amusement park called Delos. Within the park, it is divided into three “worlds”: Western World, Medieval World, and Roman World. The duo chooses Westworld as a place to live out their fantasy of being cowboys. 

        The entire worlds inside Delos are composed of androids. Robots looking like humans and animals that fit into their respective world. What makes this interesting is that Westworld is like an authentic western frontier town. Composed of the usual hallmarks of what’s seen in a western such as: cantinas, brothels, and the occasional shootouts. Not only do we follow the two main leads, but we also see the other characters in Medieval World acting like royalty. 

        The best thing about the film is that it’s like a commentary to big amusement parks. The whole idea of Westworld is that anyone can do anything. We see how excited Peter is since he asks questions to his friend on just how real Westworld is. Right down if the guns they use can injure an actual human. It’s about letting one’s inner desire run loose without any objection. Such as seeing the couple live out what they want which isn’t what they have in real life in Medieval World. 

        For instance, Peter and John go into a brothel and sleep with the prostitutes. Peter is nervous about the whole ordeal since he doesn’t know if the prostitute is a real person or not. He relents, but we learn that the woman is an android and Peter wasn’t aware of it. It’s something where the androids don’t coerce anyone since they’re programmed. 

        And that’s also another thing I want to bring up is that underneath the park is a lab. They mostly monitor the androids and the parkgoers. It was weird seeing how in the dead of night, they just pick up the “dead” androids and fix them up so they can be used by any means in the following day. One more thing is that we never get to see the actual creator of Devos. Just the engineers who monitor and make sure nothing goes wrong. But you already knew that when you mix in Park and Chrichton together. 

2. When Rides Attack

        It wouldn’t be a Michael Christon work without having the whole park going upside down. I’ll get to how he used that plot point next. To me, what makes the film work is that it isn’t some disgruntled worker who messed up the entire park. Instead, it’s a virus that infects the androids to become lethal. A perfect example is on the poster and seeing him stalk the main character. Gunslinger is the proto-Terminator. 

        At first, he is just a typical rogue who “threatens” a shootout. We see him the next few times, and it’s probably to the characters annoyance where the park is wearing thin on them. This is the part where it transitions from Sci-Fi Western to Sci-Fi Horror. Gunslinger doesn’t talk as much, but he has his program scrambled since he absolutely wants to kill. Also of significance is that the film uses Computer Imagery. His vision reminds me of the Predator, albeit here he can only see heat radiating from a body. 

        One last thing is that the film tackles one subject that is intriguing. What’s real and what’s not in the park. As I mentioned earlier, when the duo arrives in the brothel to sleep with the prostitutes. Martin doesn’t know if the prostitutes are real. We get a moment where we see how they can be distinguished. I give the film that when I think it’s saying that theme parks are soulless. You see what you want to see, but not the humanity. Which is frightening since the last survivor tries to rescue a prisoner but realizes it’s just an android.  

3. Legacy

        Westworld made more than it’s budget, but I think it got overshadowed since sci-fi wasn’t as popular to the public. I mean, it did get a sequel but it wasn't that highly regarded as a sequel to this. Anyways, the film spawned a video game and various tv shows. I’ve only become aware of the show on HBO when I was in college. And no I haven't seen it to have an opinion on it. 

        Little did I know was that this film laid the seeds of future film franchises. The Terminator wouldn’t have existed without this film. And you can see the correlation with Gunslinger and Arnold’s character. Since director James Cameron had Arnold watch the film to get the idea of who The Terminator is. 

        And of course, this film has the basis of Jurassic Park written all over it. You have the dinosaurs in place of the androids. The disgruntled engineer who lets the dinosaurs run loose. You can see where I’m going with this. I feel that Jurassic Park tackles on the dangers of humans being gods, while Westworld talks about the soullessness of theme parks and the dangers of technology. 

4. Overall

        Westworld is the perfect representation of an underrated film. It’s been awhile since I talked about an underrated film, but it’s a good movie that shows that any theme park can go south fast when you involve androids.