“Have We Got The Holiday For YOU!” beams the advert for the fictional theme park Westworld.
The introduction to the 1973 film of the same name is a promotion explaining what Westworld is and why it’s worth the staggering (in 1973) $1,000 per night fee:
It’s a utopia where you can fulfil your desires with no consequences: sheriff a town, start bar brawls, be treated like a roman emperor by swathes of servant girls, even have a gunfight to the death. You can do all of those, and never fear repercussions – or any danger. Why? Because all those around you are robots: near-perfect human replicas (the only way to tell is a lack of fingerprints on their hands).
They’re programmed to never harm a human.
After the intro, we focus on our two lead protagonists: a couple of gents heading to Westworld, one having been before and the other not. We are taken through a number of scenes, where the “newbie” is given a chance to build his confidence by standing up to the “bar bully” (and subsequently shooting him in the chest).
There are moments of doubt from the new guy – “how can I be sure he’s a robot?”, but these aren’t really dwelled upon as the film’s focus lies elsewhere.
I’ll probably not be spoiling the plot too much to say that the main focus of the film is on the robots and, how can I put this, their programming. Put it this way, I felt that Michael Crichton (of Jurassic Park author fame) may have borrowed one of the ideas: a theme park where the attractions turn on the guests.
There’s a strong tension throughout the first half of the film, it builds it up very well long before the inevitable Bad Things happen, and when it all goes “A Bit Jurassic Park” the tension is retained with a long chase between our newbie and the aforementioned bar bully.
In addition, a sense of fear is retained throughout the film as it wisely does not explain what is wrong exactly with the robots, how they work, what they want, or even how one escapes the Westworld park. Too often films feel the need for exposition after exposition, and the lack of explanation here is refreshing and works well.
Despite its age, the film has some impressive subtle effects (the eyes of the robots are brilliant, and I’m only half-certain how they did it), plus some large, detailed sets that really draw you into the film.
On the downside, I felt that some potential wasn’t realised in it: primarily the effect on people upon returning to society after this consequence-free, yet realistic environment. Would their sense of morals have changed? For better? For worse? It would have been an interesting reflection of the ultra-real computer-game influenced world we live in today.
Perhaps this could be the focus of a sequel, although given Westworld was released 38 years ago it seems a touch unlikely. Still, decades on we now have a prequel to The Thing, so you never know…
Well worth a watch!
Pat
P.S. Westworld was on telly the other night, hence this somewhat dated review 🙂
