<P> Similar to the series, the film features a large amount of gadgetry . It serves as a parody; however, as the gadgetry is more highly advanced, implausible steampunk technology and bizarre mechanical inventions, including innumerable inventions of the mechanological geniuses Artemus Gordon and Dr. Loveless, such as nitroglycerine - powered penny - farthing bicycles, spring - loaded notebooks, bulletproof chain mail, flying machines, steam tanks, and Loveless's giant mechanical spider . </P> <P> Wild Wild West was a commercial disappointment, earning only $222.1 million worldwide against a $170 million budget, and received predominantly negative reviews . </P> <P> In 1869, 4 years after the end of the Civil war, U.S. Army Captain James West (Will Smith) and U.S. Marshal Artemus Gordon (Kevin Kline) hunt for Confederate General "Bloodbath" McGrath (Ted Levine), who is wanted for mass murder, throughout the Southern United States . This is due to McGrath ordering a massacre in a settlement called New Liberty, where many of the freed slaves were murdered, including West's biological parents . The search leads to a brothel where the two try (unsuccessfully) to arrest him . It leads to a huge brawl and a cart of nitroglycerin crashing into the building, starting a fire . Both West and Gordon--Gordon dressed as a woman--escape . Later, in Washington, D.C., West and Gordon meet at the White House with President Ulysses S. Grant (Kevin Kline), who tells them about the disappearance of America's key scientists and a treasonous plot by General "Bloodbath" McGrath . Grant charges the two with finding the scientists before he inaugurates the first transcontinental railroad at Promontory, Utah . </P> <P> On board their train, Gordon examines the head of a murdered scientist, using a projection device to reveal the last thing the scientist saw . Finding McGrath and a clue in the image, they head to New Orleans, pursuing a lead about Dr. Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh), an ex-Confederate scientist in a steam - powered wheelchair, who is hosting a party for the elite of Southern society . West mistakes a female guest for a disguised Gordon and makes an error that results in the guests wanting to lynch West . Meanwhile, Gordon roams the mansion and comes across a caged Rita Escobar (Salma Hayek), rescuing her . Gordon frees West from the lynching with an elastic rope, and the three escape to their train The Wanderer . On board, Rita asks for their help in rescuing her father, one of the kidnapped scientists, Professor Escobar . </P>

Who plays the bad guy in wild wild west