‘WESTWORLD’ CRISIS, EDGE
‘Westworld’ poses ethics questions to tease human, robot showdown
B e honest: When you go to a “Jurassic Park” film, you're not going for the actors.
Chris Pratt or Chris Hansen, it doesn't matter: You're queuing up for the dino stampede.
So it is with “Westworld”: You want to see the robots turn on their masters. Canny series creators Jonathan Nolan (co-writer of “The Dark Knight”) and Lisa Joy know it, and they cleverly string you along with some disturbing questions about human nature.
In this reboot of the 1973 sci-fi thriller (which had a sequel, “Futureworld,” in 1976, and even a short-lived TV series, “Beyond Westworld,” in 1980), the idle rich play at an extraordinary playground in which their every fantasy can be fulfilled. Lifelike artificial creations known as “hosts” are there to answer every wish.
Want to play serial killer? The hosts are indistinguishable from humans and, when hurt, gush what looks to be real blood. Like rough sex? Get nasty, you've paid for it. (Given all the mayhem the paying guests cause, though, it's unclear how they know who the hosts are and who the humans are.)
In one of the more ugly, yet thematically honest aspects of the pilot, one of the female creations — Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood, “True Blood”) — has been apparently raped for decades. Yet each day she awakens with her memory wiped, ready to fulfill her guests' fantasies.
But there's a bug in the system — maybe a flaw in the latest upgrade to the operating system from brilliant programmer Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright, “The Hunger Games”) — the hosts are gaining some measure of self-awareness.
The host who thinks he's Dolores' father, Ed Abernathy (a terrific Louis Herthum), discovers a picture buried in the dirt on his ranch — of a modern-day woman in an urban setting. Soon he's experiencing what seem like panic attacks and muttering, “Hell is empty and all the devils are here.” His breakdown could be the first omen of disaster for the billion-dollar facility. Creative director Dr. Robert Ford (Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins) controls the creatures' narrative experiences but seems aware they could be outgrowing their purpose. Next week, the brothel madam Maeve (Thandie Newton, “Crash”) comes under scrutiny — for not seducing enough of the clientele. (The way the staff discusses fixes to her behavior is beyond chilling.) But Maeve is experiencing nightmares of a traumatic past. There's a genuine black hat in this playground, known simply as the Gunslinger (Ed Harris), who knows there's more to this fantasy playground than meets the eye and is determined to discover its secrets, even if he has to kill every creature he meets.
One of the arrivals tonight is Teddy (James Marsden, best known for the “X-Men” films), looking to play the chivalrous gunslinger.
Owing more to Ronald D. Moore's “Battlestar Galactica,” and taking on a subject also dealt with recently in AMC's “Humans,” “Westworld” wonders, when our electronic children grow to be as smart as their creators, what do we owe them?
Ford says, “You can't play god without being acquainted with the devil.”
For all the violence in the opener, perhaps the most unnerving scene comes with the swatting of a fly.
When the AI uprising comes, you may just be on the side of the bots.