Huievest
Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
KnotStronger
This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
smatysia
A truly weird sci-fi film. Some of the effects (specifically the stone head shots) are pretty cheesy, but it isn't fair to judge them by modern standards. Parts of the plot are highly interesting, and a few other parts are a bit ridiculous, but Sean Connery plays it straight throughout. (Although at the beginning of the film, he fires a pistol directly at the camera, seemingly a nod to his James Bond character) Charlotte Rampling is oddly good in this film as well. Sarah Kestelman and Niall Buggy played parts too odd to really describe. I liked it OK, partly FOR its weirdness.
slightlymad22
Zardoz (1973)Plot In A Paragraph: In the distant future, Zed (Connery) a savage trained only to kill finds a way into the community of bored immortals that alone preserves humanity's achievements.Director John Boorman started to write Zardoz while preparing to adapt The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, but when the studio became hesitant about the cost of producing film versions of Tolkien's books, Boorman continued to be interested in the idea of inventing a strange new world, and pressed ahead with this one. After the success of his last movie Deliverance, he was allegedly given Carte Blanc to do as he wanted on the movie by 20th Century Fox. And it shows. Originally, Burt Reynolds was cast in the lead role (having just worked with Boorman) but had to pull out due to an injury and was replaced by Connery for $200,000. Allegedly Boorman never got over it, and thought Reynolds had let him down. As a Reynolds fan, I'm glad he didn't do it. It is awful. Truly awful. All actors have a real stinker or two in their resume, and This is one Connery's. There was not much for Connery to do but lend his physical presence to the role. He made his first entrance, firing his gun straight into the camera (deliberately recalling Bond) He was in excellent shape and ware very little (and orange line cloth and thigh high boots) for the third non Bond movie he was sporting a mustache, and this time he If you want to see Connery in a wedding dress, this may be the movie for you. I can safely say, I'll probably die, having never rewatched this movie again!!On a budget of $1.5 million Zardoz grossed $1.8 million at the domestic box office.
utgard14
John Boorman's stylish sci-fi silliness about a bizarre future where a flying head named Zardoz is worshipped as a god, and people are divided into two factions, immortals and mortals. Sean Connery stars as Zed, a ponytailed mortal "exterminator" who runs around in a skimpy red outfit that has to be seen to be believed. He kills the man behind Zardoz (the wiZARD of OZ - that's cute) and finds himself transported to the place where the immortals hang out. Lots of trippy ideas and visuals, which is the main selling point of this movie for many. But it's hard to take any of it seriously and the whole thing is dripping with pretentiousness. Connery does fine attempting to take his absurd role seriously but the best part of the cast is Charlotte Rampling, who actually made me forget I was watching nonsense for a bit. It's worth watching at least once, for the interesting imagery and the unintended laughs. There aren't any other movies quite like it and seeing Sean Connery in that outfit is enough to give anyone a case of the giggles.
Scott LeBrun
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.
