Zardoz

Rating:
Summary: Some Weird Sh*t, Man
Review: Hmm, I was expecting some sort of goofy cross between "Barbarella" and "Logan's Run, but I was mistaken. "Zardoz" is a completely SERIOUS early 70's futuristic sci-fi flick.

Sean Connery, nearing the end of his physical prime, stars as the "exterminator" Zed who wants to discover the truth about "Zardoz," a gigantic menacing head and supposed god of the planet. Zed stows away in Zardoz's mouth and sneaks into the "vortex" wherein live the ruling class of the planet, extremely bored by their immortality.

This is a must for Sean Connery fans; he sports a cool long ponytail & mustache and prances around in a skimpy futuristic outfit throughout the film.

As for me, I didn't buy the dvd for Connery, but rather for the super sharp Charlotte Rampling (catch her in the underrated "Orca -- the Killer Whale").

The cinematography, locations, score, sets, costumes and special effects are all pretty much first rate for the time period (1974), just don't expect "Star Wars" class F/X. In fact, the flick's worth seeing for the Irish scenery alone.

Is the movie any good? Well, it's either really deep or really pretentious, take your pick. The story isn't very compelling, but maybe I need to see it in the right frame of mind. I'm definitely interested in seeing it again in about a year or so, maybe then I'll "get it." Anyway, the Amazon reviewers are right -- "Zardoz" is either a 5-Star masterpiece or a 1-Star piece of sh*t.


Rating:
Summary: A Grand Apocalyptic Romp
Review: "Zardoz" is neither cutting social satire, brilliant vision, or pure sci-fi trash- opinions held by various reviewers. It is, however, a grand romp through a dyspeptic future which in other hands could be insufferably silly (think "Logan's Run") but when presented by Boorman, Connery and Rampling, a great fantasy adventure. Watch it, enjoy it, and don't take it too seriously.

Rating:
Summary: What is all this rubblish about....?
Review: John Boorman's 1974 totaly abstract movie has developed something of an unhealthy cult following among the geeks of terrible science fiction pictures. The movie is totaly abstract with dialoge that goes no where. Of effects work that looks like someone smoking weed could only do, and this very bizzare/almost insane way that it was photograhed makes you want to turn it off, Poor Sean Connery looks like even he didn't understand the pointless direction that this movie was going in. Off times he just drops in from scene to scene with no clue as to what to do or where to take this mindless film role next. Movie was a box office failure, at least people had the sense to stay away from this movie when it played in theaters. Terrible Picture.

Rating:
Summary: Um... yeah...
Review: Looking to further expand my cult flick horizons, I decided to try something that steered more towards the egg-headed end of the cult-cinema spectrum, and checked out 'Zardoz'. I'd heard about the "deeper message" the movie supposedly contained, which I initially blew off as pretentious nonsense by smarter-than-thou types trying to make the movie seem more profound than it actually is. But after a couple viewings I could see many of the "deeper messages" and themes `Zardoz' was attempting to convey. Like the notion that immortality might not be all it's cracked up to be. Or the idea of a supposedly advanced society donning the mask of the almighty to take advantage of and manipulate a relatively primitive and superstitious society. Or the assertion that no matter how advanced a society becomes or seems, certain base needs and desires need to be dealt with in a manner other than suppression or denial. Also apparent to me was the `Wizard of Oz' parallel. At one point I said to myself, "There's something very `Wizard-of-Oz'-ish about all this", well before the book was revealed as the thing that gets the whole ball o' wax rollin'. These were the most apparent messages I was able to gather from my first viewing, and my perceptions were confirmed when I listened to the writer/producer/director's commentary on my second viewing.

Speaking of the commentary track: throughout it Mr. Boorman also points out various moments of symbolism that he threw into the mix to help reinforce some of his points, as well as a few interesting behind-the-scenes anecdotes (that Sean Connery is a real character) and technical stuff (the inflatable plastic structures shown throughout the movie, the visual effects of the floating Zardoz head, etc.). At one point he admits he might have made a few of the scenes a bit too ambitious for a general audience to grab (the opening scene was his attempt to help the viewers out in this respect). He also believed he should have trimmed down a few scenes a tad to help quicken the pace a bit-- a sentiment I agree with BTW. All in all, it was a pretty informative and somewhat interesting commentary, and very helpful in pointing out the things I didn't pick up on during my first viewing.

Now it's on to the entertainment factor. While I found `Zardoz' reasonably interesting and delightfully odd, It didn't quite strike me as a "keeper" for my video shelf. This is despite the fact that it contains one of the most... memorable lines ("The pen!$ is evil"?! How right Zardoz is!) I've ever encountered in cult cinema. Still, it's worth at least a rental, if only to get a laugh watching Sean Connery cavorting around in the skimpy get-up he wears...

`Late

Rating:
Summary: a timeless message
Review: i first saw this movie nearly twenty years ago and saw it again, recently. if you are a lover of the political anti-utopian genre, then this is a must see for you. it definitely looks dated and the sight of zardoz floating through the air could make you giggle considering the achievements in special effects today. but the message is clear.