I preferred all the initial futuristic trains, medical scenes and Western parts, to the ending 30 - 40 minutes. There are a lot of parallels with Crichton's Jurassic Park.
It's tone switches so often, it's actually a surprise that it works as well as it does, in a Cabin in the Woods kind of way. It's really City Slickers with a rampaging killer robot that looks just like Yul Brynner. The first half is comedy western set against a science fiction premise (treated in cutaways that could have come out of the Forbin Project or Andromeda Strain), and it's the best part. It's fun and rather sells you on the idea that this "Dream Park" stuff would be cool in real life. In the second half, as things turn sour, there are some longueurs. One cowboy tracking another is something we've seen in countless other films (though the tracker has rarely been robotic), and that's where it gets a little dull. But the characters soon find themselves running through Roman World and Medieval World, and things gets loopy, strange and fun again.
This one is always talked about as one of the classic examples of pre-80's Sci-fi but I expected a lot more than was given. It tries to be Western but doesn't have quite the charm of that genre going for it, but pretty much all of the Sci-fi works for what it's worth. It's fairly obvious that directing is not Crichton's forte and is more comfortable with a pen in his hand rather than a camera. The concept is great but not spectacularly executed, it's little wonder that he would recycle the idea a few decades later for the much superior Jurassic Park.
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BigAwesomeBLT
I preferred all the initial futuristic trains, medical scenes and Western parts, to the ending 30 - 40 minutes. There are a lot of parallels with Crichton's Jurassic Park.Oneironaut
Absolutely brilliant, just saw this for the first time. Great mix of sci-fi and western, definitely worth a watch.Think I'll be adding this one to the collection.
Realenur
It was perhaps not the best idea to give the robots real ammunition instead of blanks..Siskoid
It's tone switches so often, it's actually a surprise that it works as well as it does, in a Cabin in the Woods kind of way. It's really City Slickers with a rampaging killer robot that looks just like Yul Brynner. The first half is comedy western set against a science fiction premise (treated in cutaways that could have come out of the Forbin Project or Andromeda Strain), and it's the best part. It's fun and rather sells you on the idea that this "Dream Park" stuff would be cool in real life. In the second half, as things turn sour, there are some longueurs. One cowboy tracking another is something we've seen in countless other films (though the tracker has rarely been robotic), and that's where it gets a little dull. But the characters soon find themselves running through Roman World and Medieval World, and things gets loopy, strange and fun again.Camille Deadpan
All I can say is Wow! I recommend!kaffy
Yul Brenner's performance sets a standard for so many sci-fi films to come. That said, many of the "guest's" actions are very frustrating to watch.Gunness
Hasn't aged very well. The concept works well, but Crichton nailed it a lot better with Jurassic Park. And the movie spends far too much time on the setup - I know this is supposed to play out like the ol' west, but having every possible western cliché thrown at you doesn't make it any better.Still, Yul Brynner is chilling as the bad guy, and the final half hour or so makes up for a lot of the first hour's shortcomings.
DisneyStitch
This one is always talked about as one of the classic examples of pre-80's Sci-fi but I expected a lot more than was given. It tries to be Western but doesn't have quite the charm of that genre going for it, but pretty much all of the Sci-fi works for what it's worth. It's fairly obvious that directing is not Crichton's forte and is more comfortable with a pen in his hand rather than a camera. The concept is great but not spectacularly executed, it's little wonder that he would recycle the idea a few decades later for the much superior Jurassic Park.Louis Mazzini
More of a comedy than sci-fi and western. Cheesy as hell.NoMatterWhat
could be funnier. and the duel at the end is dull.