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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Arthurian mythology and modern-day decay seem perfect complements to each other in Terry Gilliam's drama/comedy/fantasy The Fisher King. Shock jock Jack Lucas (Jeff Bridges) makes an off-handed radio remark that causes a man to go on a killing spree, leaving Lucas unhinged with guilt. His later, chance meeting with Parry (Robin Williams), a homeless man suffering from dementia, gets him involved in the unlikely quest for the Holy Grail. The rickety and patently unrealistic stand that insanity is just a wonderful place to be and that the homeless are all errant knights wears awfully thin, but, there are numerous moments of sad grace and violent beauty in this film. The screenplay by Richard LaGravenese launched his successful career and his smart wordplay helped garner Mercedes Ruehl an Oscar as Lucas' girlfriend. --Keith Simanton
Superb
Review date: 2007-12-30 Rating: 10 out of 10
Superb. There have been very few movies that I can say, hand on heart, that have ever touched a nerve with me, but this is one. If anyone but Williams and Bridges had played these roles, the film would have dragged on and on. Bridges is excellent as the ex shock jock, trying to make some restitution for the consequences of his 'actions'. Williams should be given some kind of Knighthood - the man is flawless as he tries to claw his way out of his personal madness, his grief and guilt. The support cast are pretty fine, too. Excuisite.
Baby Cromwell, Nottingham, England
* Bloke severely stuffs up and wrecks someone's life
* Is asked to do something that makes no sense to put things right again
* Tries every which way to make things right in his own strength
* Eventually does the weird thing he was asked to do in the first place, and things are put right again
Fantastic film. Watch it over and over. Forget about the swearing. Learn how humility can win over arrogance, weakness can overcome strength, and goodness be brought from the most dark of situations!
I saw 'Brazil' a few months ago, and didn't think cinema could get any better. I bought 'Fisher King' with the expectation that it would be good, but dominated by the huge personalities of Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges. I didn't expect anything close to what I'd seen in 'Brazil'. But, contrary to what I'd expected the big on-screen personalities work in perfect harmony to this wacky world Gilliam presented us with.
A perfect script, a perfect cast, a perfect director. Perfect.
Like The Shawshank Redemption, this film is a treasure many never heard of upon it's release, or if they did, seem to have forgotten. Starring the almost demonic Jeff Bridges as Jack Lucas, a 'shock jock' who blames himself for inciting a listener to murder, the story catches up with him as his drunken self-loathing leads him to the brink of suicide. Enter Robin Williams as Parry, a seemingly unhinged tramp, whose decline was triggered by the death of his wife in the shootings Jack feels responsible for. The pair battle together for each other's sanity in a tale that encompasses Arthurian myth, knights on horseback in central park, and love blossoming in chinese restaurants.
While emotionally wrenching at times, this is still a beautiful, whimsical, and even very funny journey, with the price of entry justified by the real story of the Fisher King that Parry tells Jack in central park alone.
You'll laugh, cry, and swear off eating dumplings in public, but this is a small price to pay, as is the cost of the title. Even if Monty Python was never your thing, and Twelve Monkeys was just too sci-fi for your taste, still this film deserves a place in everyone's collection.