Is Netflix’s ‘Wild Wild Country’ Better Than Will Smith’s ‘Wild Wild West’?

On May 14, 1998, the iconic television comedy Seinfeld aired its final episode. On October 11, 1975, a rambunctious troupe of ragtag comedians changed the comedy landscape when Saturday Night Live premiered on NBC. On April 1, 2018, the iconic Will Smith action film Wild Wild West will exit Netflix.

Starring Will Smith, Kevin Kline, and cowboy hats, Wild Wild West galloped into theaters on June 30th, 1999 to mixed reviews. Jay Boyar of the Orlando Sentinel referred to it as “a fiasco of cosmic proportions,”while the New Yorker thought that Will Smith looked “great” in his Western outfit.

In other words, the jury’s still out on the quality of Wild Wild West.

On March 16, 2018, the six-part docuseries Wild Wild Country premiered on Netflix. Executive produced by Mark and Jay Duplass, the engrossing series tells the unbelievable true story of a controversial cult leader who galvanizes his followers to build a utopian city in the Oregon desert. What follows is a nuanced look at a number of complex issues that pose myriad questions of intellectual and spiritual importance, but is it “better” than its spiritual predecessor Wild Wild West, a film about two kinda cowboys saving the president from a massive futuristic spider?

As an uncredited scholar of the cinematic arts, I will answer that very question. Two historic pieces of art that utilize multiple “wilds” in their titles enter, but only one will be crowned the very best. Ten categories, one winner.

We’re going straight… to… the… Wild Wild West vs. Wild Wild Country showdown.

VILLAINS

Wild Wild Country: Ma Anand Sheela

An argument can be made that the word villain is too strong to describe Ma Anand Sheela. Then again, you don’t organize and execute the single largest bioterrorism attack in U.S. history without ruffling a few feathers, ya know? Sheela is a truly complicated character containing vast multitudes and countless complexities that would destabilize even the most trusty moral compass.

Wild Wild West: An 80-foot mechanical tarantula.

Sheela also dabbled in widespread wire-tapping and attempted murder. Sorry, Loveless.

Advantage: Wild Wild Country (1-0)

MAGNETIC BRAVADO OF LEAD CHARACTERS

Wild Wild West: 

Wild Wild Country:

What can I say, Jim West? Tough titties.

Advantage: Wild Wild Country (2-0)

AWARDS SHOW PRESENCE

Wild Wild West: 2000 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards Winner For Favorite Supporting Actress (Salma Hayek)

If you don’t believe in your heart of hearts that The Blockbuster Awards, a celebration of cinema once hosted by Kelsey F’n Grammer, are an accurate barometer of true artistic success, explain why Australian pop duo Savage Garden performed at the 1998 show? Or how the academy was the only organization to recognize LL Cool J’s breathtaking work as Sherman “Preacher” Dudley in the 1999 water movie Deep Blue Sea, a film widely considered to be both the Citizen Kane of aquatic cinema and third best artist endeavor involving the term “Deep Blue.”

Any awards show that honors both Jamie Kennedy (Favorite Supporting Actor — Horror for Scream 2) and Chris O’Donnell (Favorite Supporting Actor — Science Fiction for Batman & Robin) in the same year is beyond reproach.

Wild Wild Country: Zero Blockbuster Entertainment Award nominations.

Semi-related, Wild Wild West also captured Razzie Awards for Worst Picture, Worst Screen Couple, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, and Worst Original Song.

Advantage: Wild Wild West (1-2)

PRACTICAL SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE

Wild Wild West: 

Wild Wild Country:

Advantage: Wild Wild Country (3-1)

HOW THE LEADS DEAL WITH ADVERSITY

WILD WILD COUNTRY:

WILD WILD WEST:

Advantage: Wild Wild Country (4-1)

CLOSING RAP SONG PERFORMED BY THE STAR OF THE TV SERIES OR FILM

Wild Wild West:

Every film that eschews a post-movie jingle featuring the star rehashing the entire plot via a silky smooth rap is both wrong and lazy. The gulf between good vs great is leapfrogged by innovation. Would Titanic have been a better movie if Leonardo DiCaprio took a few minutes to sing-plain everything audiences just watched via narrative rap? Absolutely.

Alexander Fleming discovering penicillin, the Wright brothers flying the world’s first successful airplane, and Will Smith rapping about being a cowboy desperado in front of a giant flaming W flanked by Teen Choice Awards-winner Sisqo are, in some order, the greatest human accomplishments in the history of mankind.

Also, (cowboy) hats off to Will Smith for patting himself on the back for a job well done before the song concludes by singing that he’s “done done it again.” Do I approve of his arrogance? No, of course not. But go back and listen to the song and tell me he’s wrong.

Wild Wild Country: None

Advantage: Wild Wild West (4-2)

NON-SEXY SEXUALNESS

Wild Wild West:

Reminder, Wild Wild West took place in the year 1869.

Wild Wild Country:

Advantage: Draw (4-2-1)

MEMORABLE “WAIT… WHAT?” MOMENT

Wild Wild Country:

I mean… was it? Was it really similar to a football or basketball game? Personally, I don’t see the connection between a cult overtaking a small town and the March of 1998 NBA matchup between the Phoenix Suns and Seattle Supersonics in which Detlef Schrempf scored 13 points and nabbed 10 boards on the way to a two-point Seattle victory. I just don’t.

Wild Wild West, however, decided to shock viewers in a totally different manner. After Jim West and Artemus Gordon thwart the 80-foot mechanical arachnid their nemesis Dr. Arliss Loveless inexplicably created in the year 1869, Loveless just decides that he’s also a spider now too and attacks our heroes.

This, in a word, is brilliant. When I’m watching Spider-Man films I often think, “Why can’t the guy Spider-Man’s fighting just become a Spider-Man too?” Expectations? Defied. Movie history? Made. Logic… hey, don’t worry about it.

Bonus easter egg for film buffs: Loosely translated, Arliss’ last name means “without love.”

Advantage: Wild Wild West (4-3-1)

ENDURING QUOTE

Wild Wild Country: “Don’t be worried about the future. Live this moment so totally that the next moment comes out of it golden.” — Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

Wild Wild West:

Advantage: Wild Wild West (4-4-1)

“WILD” FACTOR

There’s an admirable bluster in adding a duplicate qualifier to your title. Wild West? Wild Country? It’s understood that these pop culture offerings will be wild, sure, but not to an exorbitant degree. My expectations are summarily managed. But when you add a second wild to the mix?

All. Bets. Are. Off.

You’re promising viewers a ride so feral that all the impending calamity cannot be contained in a single word. It’s like going to Disney World and riding Space Mountain, only to find out you’re actually on Space Space Mountain. A space mountain, that also, itself, is in space! Sex, drugs, betrayal, bioterrorism, Wild Wild Country is a true inferno of unpredictability.

Then again, Wild Wild West does have an 80-foot mechanical tarantula. That’s wild… but not wild enough.

Advantage: Wild Wild Country (5-4-1)

Game, set, and match are awarded to Wild Wild Country. 

Stream Wild Wild Country on Netflix