‘Westworld’

Teddy Flood has died 1 000 times in ‘Westworld’ (2016). The critically-acclaimed Johnathan Nolan and Lisa Joy revamp of the Michael Crichton movie (1973) of the same name.

Set in a technologically advanced future where the most affluent can visit a Western style theme park and drink, kill, rape and pillage their way through various narratives, the stellar new 10-episode HBO series introduces us to ‘hosts’ and ‘guests’. The latter the humanlike robots who don’t know they aren’t real and the former a revolving door of wealthy visitors who pay a pretty penny to live out their fantasies amidst androids who have their memories erased every night before reliving their loops each morning.

A genre clash of science-fiction, western and thriller, ‘Westworld’ boosts its high concept with a universe of stars. Presenting Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Thandie Newtown, Evan Rachel Wood and James Marsden as the series regulars, ‘Westworld’s’ excellence extends through premise, visuals and narrative right on through to performance.

With Hopkins lending an unblinking Hannibal Lecter mystique to his role as the creator/master of the theme park’s eerily human robots and Harris an enigmatic black hat ignoring the park’s delights to uncover something secreted below the spectacle, ‘Westworld’ presents a collection of interconnected narratives in both the park where the robots begin to go off script and within the sinister corporation that runs it.

Mysterious, mesmerizing and diverse in its casting, eight episodes in, ‘Westworld’ is a win which simultaneously reloads and refreshes presentations of artificial intelligence while questioning one’s ideas about God, creation and morality in a technologically advanced reality.

Determinedly vague about the world beyond Westworld, a deceased co-creator and the shareholders’ real agenda, ‘Westworld’s’ breadcrumbs are certainly well worth following for this season and perhaps for the recently confirmed second.