Review of Time Bandits (1981) by Jesse O — 11 Feb 2012

Ultimately this is a pretty good movie that should've been better given the people involved. I'm a big fan of Monty Python and a fan of Terry Gilliam's work as a director and his willingness to try new things.

But this movie has a terrible identity crisis. It doesn't know if it wants to be a sci-fi or a comedy and instead of trying to find a way to mix comedy with sci-fi/fantasy, they're done separately.

One segment of the movie might be comedic, but the next might be fantasy with no comedic elements involved. This is fine if you're doing a sketch movie but this isn't a sketch movie. And that's, ultimately, the movie's undoing.

It never finds a consistent tone whatsoever. In fact I'd almost say it was one of the worst movies, as far as consistency goes, that I've seen. But the movie is never bad, and it has its funny moments (mostly provided by Evil and the supreme being).

And the movie does sort of grow on you and in a small (no pun) way you end up caring for these characters and it ends up becoming a good movie, eventually, thanks to the last 20 or so minutes where the comedy is cranked up.

But it's just good and nothing more, and it pains me to say that.