But – listen, this is Westworld, there’s always a but – enough baffling decisions remain to knock you out of the action faster than a katana to the face. For starters, despite what looks like very strong fight choreography and a behind-the-scenes budget bigger than a small country’s GDP, all the combat is shot in the dark. This is usually either a cost-cutting measure (you don’t need to pay for details you can’t see) or a way to hide sloppy swordplay. Since neither of those factors appear to apply, it comes across like sheer addiction to the murky, somber lighting and color palette of Prestige TV. What’s the point of all that precise blade-wielding if you don’t actually get to see the damn blades?
Also, true to the show’s programming, cringeworthy music cues are abound here. If you thought the cover of Kanye West’s “Runaway” (coincidentally the week he went full MAGA) or the “White Stripes: Indian Edition” version of “Seven Nation Army” were hard to take, wait until you hear faux-Japanese versions of the Stones’ “Paint It Black” and the Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M.” The former, at least, is a callback to the show’s first use of the song, during the Sweetwater bandit raid that ShogunWorld has recycled for its own setting. But “Cash Rules Everything Around Me,” during a scene that has nothing to do with cash? Is the idea “Well, Wu-Tang love samurai flicks, so it works”? If so, why not remake a song that actually samples music or dialogue from those films? As it stands, this just sounds like taking the Wu’s most recognizable hit and dumping it in the middle of a scene just because they can. Not even dropping a big sack with a dollar sign right in Thandie Newton’s lap would seem more jarring.
I reviewed the Westworld where they went to Fake Japan for Rolling Stone. I was pleased to see the show embracing its innate pulpiness, which has always been far more interesting than the deep thoughts it seems to think it has, and I write about that a bunch. But it still makes everything such a challenge to actually enjoy because of choices like the ones described above.
Tags: horror, reviews, Rolling Stone, TV, TV reviews, westworld