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Zardoz [1974]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

A box office failure at the time, John Boorman's 1974 cult science fiction film Zardoz is an entrancing if overly ambitious project that offers pointed commentary on class structure and religion inside its complex plot and head-movie visuals. Its healthy doses of sex and violence will involve viewers even if the story machinations escape them. Beautifully photographed near Boorman's home in Ireland's Wicklow Mountains by Geoffrey Unsworth (2001), its production design is courtesy of longtime Boorman associate Anthony Pratt, who creates a believable society within the film's million-dollar budget.

A bewigged Sean Connery is Zed, a savage "exterminator" commanded by the mysterious god Zardoz to eliminate Brutals, survivors of an unspecified worldwide catastrophe. Zed stows away inside Zardoz's enormous idol (a flying stone head) and is taken to the pastoral land of the Eternals, a matriarchal, quasi-medieval society that has achieved psychic abilities as well as immortality. Zed finds as much hope as disgust with the Eternals; their advancements have also robbed them of physical passion, turning their existence into a living death. Zed becomes the Eternals' unlikely messiah, but in order to save them--and himself--he must confront the truth behind Zardoz and his own identity inside the Tabernacle, the Eternals' omnipresent master computer. --Paul Gaita


Overkill
Review date: 2007-05-19 Rating: 4 out of 10

In brief 'Zardoz' is a film about a group of immortals who, bored with life, use their advanced intelligence to convince people living outside their fortress that they are Gods, and make them kill each other (apparently to stop there being too many people, but it doesn't explain why that might be a problem). The group is infiltrated by a 'normal' person who destoys the machine that made them immortal, thus giving them the 'gift of death'.

'Zardoz' is a bit of a confused mess. It suffers from a lot of things, one of them notably is that it has too many little ideas in it that should progress the story, but because they haven't been developed or explained properly they often don't make sense. This is something that Boorman admits to in the commentary.
In fact, he also admits the opening sequence was tacked on to explain things because audiences were totally confused by the film, but that it didn't work because it still isn't clear!

There isn't really much to look forward to in this movie. At the end I couldn't see much point in the whole affair and would have struggled to summarise the plot had I not listened to Boorman's commentary afterwards, which explains many things that should be obvious if the film wasn't so badly made.

It's not that it's on a budget that's a problem because it doesn't look cheap, it's just that random things pop up here and there that are meant to mean something but it isn't explained properly, like the random piece of glass that Connery pushes his face against in the middle of a field. I thought it was just Boorman trying to be 'weird' but apparently it was an invisible force field. Quite why Connery squashed his face up against it doesn't make sense though.

The film's idea of the future is annoyingly childish. People wear one piece, single coloured costumes, hang drapes from everything and fill rooms with all sorts of childish paraphanalia such as a kids music box and shiny materials. It looks and plays like a kid's movie, as I'm sure they would be very excited by the overuse of mirrors and reversed motion. I would recommend it to under 12's if only Boorman didnt insist on pointlessly showing women with their tops off.

Overall not a great deal happens, it's mostly childish and silly and the story is confusing. The only valuable extra is the commentary, which is semi-interesting but essential to explain what you have just seen.
Film: 2 Stars, Extras: 2 stars.

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Reviews


Great opening sequence
Review date: 2006-01-11 Rating: 4 out of 10

It's funny how one's memory can play tricks on you. I watched this film years ago and thought it was pretty good. So when I noticed it was on TV recently, I eagerly set the video. What a disappointment! It starts superbly with that amazing opening sequence - the giant head floating through the sky to the accompaniment of Beethoven's 7th. However it soon deteriorates into a jaded 1970s B movie style sci-fi drama. I didn't really appreciate seeing so much of Sean Connery (if you've seen the film, you'll know what I mean!). The puzzle at the end with the clever title are very good, but the middle 60 minutes is very tedious.

Satisfying on many dimensions
Review date: 2005-10-16 Rating: 10 out of 10

This movie is satisfying on many dimensions from social commentary to sci-fi to visual impact to mystery and so forth. It is impossible to extract much logic from it when watched on commercial TV as every word and gesture has a meaning and an answer as to what will come next. Being permeated with flashbacks and revelations that come later in the movie it is not practical to tell the story as it needs to be revealed in the proper order for the cohesion to take place.
The story takes place in the future sometime after the un-named calamity has divided humans into those in enclaves, called vortexes and others that live outside. Arthur Frayne (Niall Buggy) a resident of Vortex Four and has reason to travel outside to the brutels. There he poses as a god (Zardoz). The meaning of Zardoz may be reveals in time. On one of the trips Arthur does not return; instead ZED (Sean Connery) a genetically designed assassin returns in his place. This leads to many questions as where is Arthur and is there a purpose or just coincidence that Zed is here? How did he get here? More important is he what he appears to be?



And here I introduce the concept of Zardoz
Review date: 2004-07-25 Rating: 6 out of 10

Coming from the same mythic archetype as Logan's Run, Zardoz will (as John Boorman admits in the commentary) fail as a film if the viewer can't forgive it's low(ish) budget. Much of his commentary is given over to how he achieved certain effects in the days before digital, plus a few interesting comments on what makes Sean Connery star-material. Unfortunately, too much of the commentary is taken up with Boorman saying things like "And here I introduce the concept of immortality". Not a great insight into the film, and no other extras worth speaking of. The film itself is saved from psychedelic hell by having (as Boorman again admits) perhaps too many ideas packed into it. Interesting, though not exactly life-changing; and more intellectually than emotionally pleasing. Sort of 60s written SF made into a 70s film when 00s technology was really required. Hey, but with Charlotte Rampling in it!

Weird and wonderful and very cheap.
Review date: 2004-05-08 Rating: 8 out of 10

I bought this cheap, thought it would be rubbish.
Made by John Boorman, the guy who made Deliverance (yahoo), Exorcist II (arrgh) and wrote the book Adventures of Suburban Boy.
Zardoz is wonderfully imaginative film. The start is truly great and you don't have to wait very long at all for it to get interesting.

Sean Connery plays Zed a hero who attempts to make sense of his future society, a society of immortals and fascist oppression. The film though a bit arty, violent and rude is nevertheless brimming with great ideas. At times the film feels like an episode of the peerless TV show the Prisoner. Though there are also moments it feels like a pretentious Star Trek episode. You can live a happy and forfilled life without having to watch Zardoz.

It is a great film with some embarrassing sci-fi pretensions and moments of incomprehensible weirdness. If you are bored through watching too many very clichéd films then try this. If you want some slick and polished entertainment you should look elsewhere.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
John Alderton
Charlotte Rampling
Sally Anne Newton
Sean Connery
Sara Kestelman

Creators:
Sean Connery (Primary Contributor)
Charlotte Rampling (Primary Contributor)
Geoffrey Unsworth (Cinematographer)
John Boorman (Producer)
John Boorman (Writer)
John Merritt (Editor)
Charles Orme (Producer)

Director(s):

Recording label: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
EAN: 5039036009171
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2003-06-30
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 101 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1974-02-06
Language: Czech (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: Hebrew (Subtitled)
Language: Hungarian (Subtitled)
Language: Icelandic (Subtitled)
Language: Norwegian (Subtitled)
Language: Polish (Subtitled)
Language: Portuguese (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: Turkish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)

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