HBOs TV adaptation goes a different route.
Devoid of high-jinks, it starts serious and stays that way.
Or more properly, TV-making.
It takes and expands Crichtons feature-film into something that couldnt fit into even 2016s flabby cinematic run-times.
Westworlddeserves and requires that privilege.
Its first four scripts are finely wrought and intellectually ambitious.
The dialogue is satisfyingly layered with irony and allusion.
(Even the name host brings simultaneously to mind images of heavenly creatures and an archaic army.)
Subtext has been layered in, too.
Her golden-hearted persona is an artificial construct.
Does it really reflect her true self?
Its a reversal of the original concept, and quite a brilliant one.
It especially works because the host performances, and by extension the directing, are so strong.
Hopkins lends a certain nobility toWestworld.
HBOs reported $54 million for this season has been well spent when it comes to casting.
And to setting and effects, it almost goes without saying.
Theres no poster-paint red blood here.
Blood bubbles from gunshot wounds and sliced throats spray fans of the stuff.
IfWestworldlacks anything, its leavening humor.
Theres no mordant Tyrion Lannister and Varys pairing to blast fresh air into its hermetically sealed sci-fi chamber.
Thats no real criticism at this point.
Its simply serious stuff, treated seriously.
Westworld premieres on HBO on Sunday, October 2nd at 9pm.
