Zardoz

Any time a film begins with a giant, 5-story stone head saying, "The gun is good. The penis is evil," you know you're in for a wild ride.

Oh, I also forgot the horribly silly prologue spoken by some dude with a magic marker moustache and an equally contrived pseudo-Elizabethan accent which is really what makes most people throw in the towel after 5 minutes. But if you can get past all that, it gets a lot better.

Once the Beethoven music begins (7th Symphony, 2nd movement--one of the most powerful compositions ever. Check it out on YouTube), the film takes on a decidedly more serious and legitimate personality. Some IMDb reviewers have said this is SOLELY due to the Beethoven music, and I suspect they're right. But hey, all is fair in film-making.

Anyway, whether it's due to the music or whatnot, the film progresses from the initial cheeziness shock, and we start to uncover some complex & interesting themes. The plot itself becomes more challenging as we realize it's not as straightforward as we had assumed at first. Some nice twists & turns, some clever deception, and a good old fashioned whodunnit type mystery come to the surface. There are some really surrealistic scenes like at the insane asylum which border on Kubrickian genius if you're into that sort of thing (the 3rd part of 2001 A Space Odyssey).

Acting is very good. You even come to accept the goofy guy with the magic marker moustache after a little while, because you realize he's just a jokester... sort of like the Shakespearian "fool".

And stay tuned because the payoff is the meaning of the word "Zardoz" which makes a powerful metaphor if you're paying attention. Overall, this is a nifty flick which--if you're into cool 70s dystopian scifis (Rollerball, Logan's Run)--you'll really enjoy. I'm tempted to rate it higher than a 7/10, but I just can't get over that gun/penis line LOL.

Filmmaker John Boormans' follow-up to "Deliverance" is admittedly not to all tastes. Boorman, who also produced and wrote the film, gives us a one of a kind experience that, ultimately, is better seen than described. Words like "weird" and "provocative" come to mind when viewing it, because it's full of ideas.

It depicts a world of the future (the year 2293, to be exact) where a sly master intelligence, Zardoz, has contrived a way to keep unruly lower classes in line. One of the lower class people is an "exterminator", Zed (Sean Connery), whose job is to kill, period. One day Zed decides to seek truth, and hitches a ride in a great stone head, where he's transported to a "vortex", or environment, where the bored upper class, a group of immortal intellectuals, don't know what to make of him. He shakes up their world as much as they shake up his.

The most striking element of "Zardoz" is the visual approach. Filmed on location in Ireland, it takes us from one surreal set piece to another, with deliberately stylized dialogue. The cast plays the material with very straight faces. Connery looks fairly embarrassed, and considering the fact that his costume partly consists of a red diaper, one can hardly blame him. (He wasn't too happy about having to wear a wedding dress, either.) Charlotte Rampling, Sara Kestelman, John Alderton, Sally Anne Newton, and Niall Buggy co-star; of this group of actors, Buggy does manage to inject some humour into the proceedings.

This is sedately paced and short on action, but it's compelling in its own offbeat way, provided one is able to stick with the story. While it's not likely to be very appealing to a mainstream audience, it's not something easily forgotten for devotees of cult cinema.

Seven out of 10.

"Zardoz" is either a brilliant visionary masterpiece, or the biggest blunder Sean Connery ever appeared in. I still haven't decided which (must watch it again first!). It has beautiful visuals and a surprisingly multi-layered script (the revelation of the title's meaning is a stunning moment), yet it also has parts so embarrassing (the "scientific examination of the male erection" scene comes to mind) that make you wonder how the participants managed to keep a straight face through them (the filming of this movie must have been great fun!). Ultimately, it's a film that defies ratings, but I'll try my best......*** out of 4.

There seem to be a lot of people who didn't like this film. I loved it. It is a film for people who aren't perturbed by a lack of surface glitz in science fiction, and can take on the underlying meanings about immortality or the fear of death that other films rarely raise. Some of it doesn't make sense, but only if you are not paying attention. In my view, it gets straight to the point without any polish, which some people are uncomfortable about in any artform. It is not made for Star Trek fans. It is a bleak and powerful story about a cabal of ineffectual immortals who play God to an inferior but more vigourous race, and who long for death yet cannot die. They stealthily invite one of these inferiors (Connery) into their midst to solve their problems. The final scenes are extremely striking, and are set to the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 7th symphony. **You just don't hear this symphony enough in the movies***. I recommend this film to anyone who likes science fiction with a small sf.

The supremely visionary gifts of imagination of director/writer John Boorman rival those of legendary Arthur C. Clarke in this production, one even more amazing today than it was nearly thirty-seven years ago. Almost a template of what social engineering has wrought as a model for our future, depopulation and protected environment exclusively for the elite (with even a presumption of immortality thrown in) Zardoz is about manipulation through myth and where any ultimate conclusion to inherently confined and opportunistic "unnatural selection", as opposed to that natural selection of evolution, leads. This leap in inevitability is thus an utter inspiration inspired by profound wisdom in the acknowledgment of the complex that makes humankind unique in their adaptability. The very thing social engineering most frequently overlooks, in its mindless service to the elite.

The performances of Sean Connery as, Zed and that of Charlotte Rampling as, Consuella are among this film's many gifts, not the least of which is its beautiful setting, choreography, special effects, and scene changes. Be all this as it may, however, the value of this movie in expressing a potential for the future wholly untenable for most to at once conceive at the time it was made....now, which is becoming more and more apparent, at least in intent, is worthy of utmost praise. JCH