Keanen's Film Blog

This is not an indictment of a franchise but of a particular film. Before Jonathan Nolan, before Beyond Westworld, there was Westworld, a campy little sci-fi western. That’s how these things start. In a case of life imitating art, Westworld (the setting, the film, or the franchise) gets more interesting and dangerous over time until its flimsy foundation collapses under the weight of its own ambition.

The cheese factor is at a critical level. Imagine Tron (1982) on horseback. Double down on the AI-taking-over-the-world trope and you’ve got Westworld. This may have been one of the first films to go so completely overboard with sci-fi cliches. The basic ideas themselves are not absurd, but the story is in the telling.

Have you ever been to the American west, particularly the southwest? It’s one big desert. If someone built a theme park there, nobody would go. That is why the park would have to be a destination business for only the highest class of customers. A few curious individuals might pay a few thousand to stay at/in Westworld like they would at a resort.

A train takes the customers to the park. The hospitality robots are all dressed in 19th century clothing. All the standard amenities are provided: a saloon, a brothel, and revolvers. When you shoot the robots, they fall over for you. Just like a video game. Then the robots get mad and start killing the customers.

That’s the film. It’s a great setup. It was ahead of its time and did well for its budget. The execution is the problem. Lacking a visual aid, I will describe a scene from memory: A cowboy robot awkwardly shoots a rifle from the hip. A human with a mullet shoots the robot in the chest with a revolver. The robot does its death animation (the robot) and falls on its face.

The robots in the 1973 film are not sapient or intelligent, they’re just robots. The original movie conservatively extrapolated from where technology was then, and the current series fancifully extrapolates from where technology is now. The difference is staggering. Literally. The robots in the original film do a lot of staggering. They’re robots. Get it?

It is telling that the old Honda robot is used as stock footage in modern films about robotics. Maybe servos are too limiting for humanlike motion. Then again, the 2011 model could run at 5.6 mph (9 kph). Either way, the popular perception of robots seems to be that the things can’t move very fast and could not beat you in a fight (whether or not that is accurate). True to form, the villainous robots in 1973’s Westworld are janky and harmless, save for their guns.

For the most part, Westworld is an entertaining flick that leaves the audience with a lot to think about. However, its portrayal of technology aged like a ripe hamburger under a broken heat lamp. Take it with a handful of salt.