HBO’s ‘Westworld’ has finally made it to television screens. But in a Battlestar Galactica’ like twist, will we be cheering for the humans or their cybernetic creations as both the action and moral conflicts increase?
“All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts…” – William Shakespeare.
If you can begin a review by drawing parallels between the television drama in question and the Bard, then chances are the series in question is probably doing something right. It’s taken a long while for Westworld – HBO‘s re-imagining of the classic Michael Crichton feature film – to the screen. A long time in development and with various delays and controversies during actual production, it was not clear when the final show would arrive or the impact it would have if and when it did so. It seems to have been worth the wait
In the near future, Westworld is a part of an elite park where a select few wealthy and powerful individuals can play out whatever fantasy they want – their scenarios populated by lifelike synthetic creations that give the illusion of reality. There’s no judgement, no consequence – you can kill, fight, copulate or indulge whatever you want and the ‘game-pieces’ are provided to suit in a whole range of environments. But when the latest upgrade to the park’s robots seems to cause breakdowns in some of then, safety protocols dictate a quick and decisive response. It’s a costly exercise – both in effort and money but it’s important that none of the synthetic ‘actor’s ever work out that they aren’t ‘real’ and are merely re-running stories time and time again.
If ever they should work out their ‘place’ in the process, it would be… problematic. And Westworld may be about to have a big problem.
The pilot episode of the ten-part mini-series is named ‘The Original‘ and it does a good job of introducing some of the (not always likeable) characters and situations that we’ll be following in the following weeks – though in almost every case there’s more to them than their first scenes offer. In the first hour alone the story takes some unpredictable twists and turns and even those familiar with the original film may be caught off-guard by the way its remit is being used. If the 1973 film was an imaginative action-adventure then the Westworld of 2016 (or the unspecified near-future in which it takes place) aims for a more discerning audience and asks more searching questions. In much the same way that the revival of Battlestar Galactica took the idea of humanity struggle with its own creations to the farthest stars, the new series returns us to the dust plains of Earth and makes us examine our own humanity. There’s no shortage of action with the likes of gun-play and wild west shoot-outs that break out at regular intervals, but the pilot’s strength is in the intrigue, laying the groundwork for the likely even bigger dramas and hard moral choices to come.
Many of the cliches and tropes are on show, but Westworld circumvents many of them or uses them to good effect. Outlaws and gunslingers can be found in abundance but it’s the puppeteers who hold the most menace. In 1973 we cared about the survival of humans when faced with malfunctioning robots such as Yul Brynner’s black-hat, but here most of our sympathies are with the ‘puppets’ who are seen as little more than abused game-pieces on a board made to suit their controllers. It’s easy to side with the likes of Evan Rachel Wood’s Dolores as she repeats the same day over and over with various tragedies and bad treatment, but we’d probably treat CGI X-Box characters with the same casual disregard and the creators of the fictional park justify their set-up as little more than a technologically superior game.
The casting is well-considered with Anthony Hopkins as Robert Ford, the man whose creations now populate the park and Ed Harris as a violent gunslinger within its ‘walls’ who aims to misbehave. Woods’ Dolores, James Marsden as the incoming ‘hero’ figure Teddy Flood and Jeffrey Wright as chief programmer Bernard Lowe all bring separate and sometimes surprising aspects and qualities to their key roles, though the likes of Thandie Newton, Rodrigo Santoro and character actor Louis Herthum all threaten to steal the spotlight at times. The cinematography is impressive, with direction and script from Jonathan Nolan (late of Person of Interest) making full use of the majestic open vistas. Music also plays a subtle part and though the tunes and melodies doesn’t technically fit the era (listen out for the growing beat of the Rolling Stones’ Paint it Black as mayhem ensues) they are pitched perfectly to reflect the tone.
Like Deadwood minus the ‘dead’, the pilot gives us an ensemble of miscreants and offers just a few answers but leaves us wanting to know a lot more – and there are plenty of questions about agendas and the park’s wider purpose by the time the final credits on the opener roll. It’s a well-crafted, enigmatic pilot and there’s little doubt that those who see the opening episode will come back more – it’s simply down to the show to maintain that balance between philosophical discussion and intense action.
Like the robots themselves, HOW it answers the key questions may dictate its eventual longevity, but for the moment this is an intelligent mix of action and drama that should suit a wide, adult audience.
9/10
