December 28, 2008.

Caution! You Are Approaching The Periphery Shield Of Vortex Four!.

Rating: 3
Master of understatement John Boorman (better known for the execrable howler "Exorcist II: The Heretic") teams up with Sean Connery in a ponytail wig and diaper to beat the audience over the head with subtlety and nuance. OK, seriously though, this is a heavy-handed and over-acted attempt at cerebral science fiction that pontificates on subjects like religion, inequality, and human nature.

Sean Connery is Zed, an exterminator charged by Zardoz (a faux-god residing in a giant, floating, gun-vomiting head) to eliminate the savage "brutals" in this nightmarish future world. The movie is steeped in pretentiousness from the annoying floating head introductory narration to the incredibly stilted dialogue, of which follow several random examples: "I am innocent of psychic violence!", "No! I will not go to the second level!", "Shall I seek vortex consent?", "We will touch-teach you and you will give us your seed.", and of course, "The gun shoots death and beautifies the earth...Zardoz has spoken!" The entire movie prattles along like that, and contains other unintentionally comic elements such as Zed being frightened by a Jack-in-the-Box (really), Zed discovering an inter-vortex exchange holograph (don't ask), Zed getting the stuffing beat out of him by a bunch of demented geezers at the senility home, Zed teaching the "eternal" women how to kiss, thereby reintroducing desire and emotion to the world, and of course, Zed battling refracted light in the funhouse challenge inside a giant computer-crystal (again, don't ask).

I am not totally down on the film, I just think it fails as serious science fiction, and becomes a parody of the genre, despite Boorman's commentary track extolling its virtues. The special effects are very basic: the floating head is, for instance, simply suspended from a crane, while in one key scene Zed obtains a secret power enabling him to make the film run backwards.

The film is enjoyable as a camp classic, but is lacking as a serious movie (it was also a commercial flop), despite pretensions to be enlightening. Especially onerous is the predictable ending which is even more lamely executed than expected. The film was made in Ireland (Boorman's home) and as such does have some lovely landscape and scenery to recommend it; further the cinematography is generally quite good. The film is let down by trying to do too many things at once, and consequently doing none of them well. The pacing is frequently plodding, the acting is middling at best, the costumes are more hilarious than anything in recent memory (again, Connery's costume is justification enough to buy the movie), the morality of the film is preachy and heavy-handed, while the script is way over the top and utterly laughable. The most pretentious scene in the film (and one of the most pretentious I have ever seen) is the discovery of the true identity of Zardoz by Zed when he is learning to read. (Hint: I don't think that Frank Baum would be especially pleased.)

I recommend the film to science fiction completists and fans of camp everywhere: you will seldom if ever find a better example of unintentional humor in a desolate future world than in Zardoz.

December 12, 2008.

Mental!!.

Rating: 4
Great review from Polaris, if you want a "proper" treatise on this film, read that review. What I want to say is this. This film is mental! If you take elements of The Prisoner, Logans Run, A Boney-M album cover, the bit in the far future in the 60's version of The Time Machine where the Eloi live in pastel togas, some sex and mild nudity, and then add in Sean Connery in a tutu and a big massive flying head with guns coming out of it! Bloody Hell! You couldn't make it up. As other reviewers have pointed out, there is a serious story trying to get out, but you always have to come back to Sean Connery in a tutu, and a big massive flying head! I currently drive an Opel Zafira, but would consider trading it in for a big giant flying head. With guns coming out. Magic.

December 02, 2008.

Somewhat overwhelming.

Rating: 4
Considering a title like "Zardoz" and a cover featuring Sean Connery in what looks like a red diaper, this movie has a lot more seriousness and quality going for it. It is 70s science fiction: glitzy, ridiculous special effects providing a medium for real social commentary. The thing is, though, Boorman plays up the surreal and Carnivalesque in this movie, resulting in something closer to a fever dream than escapist fantasy. Re-introducing the social commentary results in a movie that is compelling and maddening all at once.

If a viewer gets past the opening and the following introduction of Zardoz the giant gun-giving clay head without thinking that something is amiss, they probably aren't actually taking the movie seriously enough on its own terms, and from there it's pretty easy to get lost. What we have here is an abject reversal of the Adam and Eve/Fall from Eden story. A futuristic society that has achieved immortality through the Tree of Knowledge, and thus created their own god, now obsesses over reclaiming death before apathy or senility overtakes their entire culture. Thus they set Zardoz the false god into the barbarian lands to both control the population and genetically direct the birth of a Savior or Son to come and reteach them the means to eventual death. This One is Zed, played by Sean Connery. It's also a commentary on classism. There's some aspects of male sex wish fulfillment. And old people running around in Halloween costumes while aristocrats destroy works of art.

Personally, I found it more overwhelming than campy, which is not exactly the way many people approach this movie. I do agree that in many ways it's very silly, but some of those arguments -- poor acting, dry delivery, random shoutouts of philosophy -- could easily be attributed to The Matrix if you think about it. Remember that this is the director that made Deliverance and Point Blank. These movies are genre thrillers with a special and idiosyncratic form of anxiety setting them over the edge from simple entertainment.

--PolarisDiB

December 29, 2008.

Zardoz DVD.

Rating: 5
Sean Connery is excellent in all of his movies. This vision of the future was well done, very imaginative.

December 22, 2008.

What in tarnation?!?.

Rating: 5
A complicated plot to say the least, flying stone head, hippy overtones, goofy special effects, freckle faced actors,and.... SEAN CONNERY? By George this is just about the kookiest movie there is! Having said that it is one of my favorites, perhaps because I saw it in the theater when it came out and it reminds me of those days. Very enjoyable movie but you may have to watch it a few times to figure the whole thing out.

Not much in the way of special features but a fun movie at a great price!
Recommended!