Review of Zardoz (1974) by Mack E — 15 Dec 2007

So this is what happens when you give a director free reign after they make a really good film about rape, kayaking and banjo-playing.

You get, apparently, Zardoz.

While it is worth watching sheerly for the odd imagery, this movie feels way too much like an extended version of the final sequence of "A Boy and his Dog".

So, to clarify: take one part Wizard of Oz, another part Planet of the Apes, and mix it in with the 1960 Time Machine. Then put Sean Connery in it.

Some say there is a good deal of philosophy supposedly going on in this movie. For me, it seems more like someone face-planting while still talking incoherently the whole way down. Philosophic? Sure. Confusingly pompous? Absolutely. A happily cheesy movie otherwise? Yep. So if you want to see Sean Connery flying around in a giant stone head that spits out guns to horse-back riding asexuals in the far future... well then, apparently this is your movie.