| Westworld (2016–2022) | |
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Rating: 8.5/10 (530,558 votes) Director: N/A Writer: Lisa Joy, Jonathan Nolan Stars: Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright, Ed Harris Runtime: 62 min Rated: TV-MA Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi Released: 02 Oct 2016 |
| Plot: At the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, waits a world in which every human appetite can be indulged without consequence. | |
There was a time when the very thought of an adaptation of a beloved film to the TV format struck fear into the hearts of men. Poor adaptations such as The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, average entries such as Highlander: The Series, and diabolical rot such as the Robocop TV series stuck in people’s minds – yet curiously everyone forgets how Buffy began as a film, but maybe because that film wasn’t much cop. Whilst we still have some pretty lacklustre adaptations (hello Minority Report and Lethal Weapon), these days the news of a TV version of a beloved franchise is met with a bit more optimism, especially if it comes from a non-mainstream station such as HBO, Showtime, A&E or FX. Shows such as Fargo, Bates Motel, Ash vs Evil Dead (a sequel), and Hannibal have lifted the hopes of folk that an adaptation can work. So, when HBO announced Westworld was being adapted back in 2013, it was good news for this fan of the 1973 film of the same name.
Warning….herein be spoilers. If you haven’t had the joy of watching through the ten episodes so far, be aware that there are a few twists and turns that I will be discussing.
“Look…don’t get angry! We warned you there may be spoilers!”
The original film ran to just under 90 minutes, and was written and directed by Michael Crichton. You could argue that the film has already seen a remake via the 1976 film Futureworld, and the 1980 TV series Beyond Westworld….oh and via another, extremely popular film. Which film? Let me give you a clue – both films focus on a new concept of theme park where the exhibits that are there to surprise and amaze park visitors start causing destruction, and the control team is affected by a power outage. Just replace robotic cowboys with dinosaurs and you should get the idea. But this time around the series was going to explore the concept from a few different angles. Primarily the lines between good and bad were going to be a lot greyer than previously, and the ‘hosts’ (the name given to the robot occupants of the theme park) wouldn’t necessarily be the menace, with some being played as the victims.
The basic synopsis is that in a not too distant future, a theme park named Westworld, which occupies a huge expanse of land, allows visitors to immerse themselves into a setting modelled on the wild west literature and mythologies. In this place, they can fulfil any fantasies they wish with the hosts, with no repercussions. Fancy going on a killing spree? Go for it – the hosts will be repaired and reset ready for the next guests to the park. Each host is also programmed to be involved in some story where they can (however if a visitor interrupts the story, they are programmed to react and respond naturally). Thus, as new visitors enter the town for the first time they will be nudged by random encounters which feed into a bigger tale of, say, kidnapping, bank robbing, or being recruited to join a posse hunting bandits. The possibilities are limitless, and new stories are always being added to the park to keep it fresh. However, something strange is occurring in the park, and it seems that some of the hosts are starting to become aware that something about their existence isn’t right. Whilst they are programmed to believe only the fantasy (and showing them anything from the real world won’t register on them at all), a few begin to have dreams and flashbacks to earlier situations…
The cast involved in the proceedings is a showrunner’s dream, with Anthony Hopkins as Robert Ford, the founder of Westworld, James Marsden as Teddy, a cowboy host who is looking for love with Delores (played by Evan Rachael Wood). Then there is Thandie Newton as Maeve, a host who runs the brothel in the town, Jeffrey Wright as Bernard the head of the programming division, Ed Harris as the mysterious Man in Black, Ben Barnes as Logan, a hedonistic guest who brings his timid soon to be brother-in-law, William (Jimmi Simpson) to the park. Then throw in Luke Hemsworth, Rodrigo Santoro, Clifton Collins Jr, and many other familiar faces to flesh it all out, and you can guarantee that the acting will be enticing and convincing…and it is.
Ed Harris is brilliant as the deadly Man in Black, seeking the mystery of the maze. But what is the mystery of him?
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But a great cast can easily be let down if the script isn’t up to scratch. Thankfully Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, and their writing team, have that nailed down well. Whilst the first couple of episodes could be a bit tricky for casual viewers to get a handle on, as the series hits the forth episode, a lot of things begin to make sense, and pan out, making going back to the first episodes to re-watch from a different stance pretty much a necessity, and definitely a joy. Right from the first episode the show lays its cards on the table, telling the audience to not believe everything at face value, and constantly question the moments they are seeing, as the opening follows Teddy, making out that he is a visitor to the theme park. We follow him through the interactions, whilst we also discover the Man in Black (who we assume is a villainous host). However, it is only at the reveal that he is a visitor and Teddy is a host that we start to question who is real and who isn’t. This becomes a theme as the series progresses, and much in the same way Battlestar Galactica had us second guessing who was a Cylon agent, so too does this make you start to look for small clues. By the last 3 episodes, revelations come thick and fast, and characters you thought were kind hearted are revealed to be psychotic, whilst the whole basis of the Man in Black’s journey (to find the maze) appears to be something completely insignificant to anyone except Delores, a left-over bit of programming from an experiment into genuinely creating self-awareness that Arnold, Ford’s partner in creating the park, had embedded in her. The satisfaction at how the events play out is only dampened by the realisation as the last episode closes that we will have to wait over a year for any more episodes as it isn’t due to return until 2018!
There has been some criticism levied that the revelations were too predictable, and whilst it is true that by the mid way point of the season the observant will have worked out quite a few ‘surprises’, this is only because the revelations were hinted at all along, the clues were there, rather than being cheap twists with no logical reasoning. Much like if you go back and re-watch Fight Club you will see all the blatantly obvious clues as to that film’s surprise, Westworld sows the seeds from very early on. But even having worked out who the Man in Black is, or the true order of events (as what we see is not sequential, but is drawn from varying points in time), it is a joy to see your deductions unfold, and gives a sense of achievement in having solved the puzzle of the plot.
“It’s called ‘foreshadowing’ darling. Look it up!”
The whole thing is made even more perfect via an amazing score to each episode by Ramin Djawadi. Known for his work on Game of Thrones, he has also worked on films such as Pacific Rim and Iron Man. But it is here that he truly delivers some of his best pieces to date. From his original pieces for the show, the open credits alone have a beautiful menace to them, to his western piano interpretations of contemporary tracks such as Radiohead’s No Surprises and Fake Plastic Trees, to Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black – and especially The Rolling Stones’ Paint It Black which plays almost in full over a brilliant bandit raid sequence, and is a highlight of the soundtrack album, stirring emotions with its eclectic mix of modern, classical, and western themes – every piece of music is placed perfectly for the scene or character it relates to, and works to stir the emotions.
The end result is another great show by HBO, a network known for quality fantasy and drama, and maybe one of the finest overall examples of storytelling on screen of recent years. A great tribute to the original film (it even includes a few nods to that film), and a show of which we have now only seen the first act, because at the end of the last episode of the season, the hosts are only just becoming hostile and putting the park in danger…although some of them have become aware and may actually be humanities saviours in the end. Oh, and Ford puts into motion a deadly new story, and this viewer for one doesn’t think we’ve seen the last of him and his machinations.
