Zardoz (1974)

Director John Boorman
Stars: Sean Connery, Charlotte Rampling.
Plot:  In the 23rd Century, a brutish trained killer finds his way into a community of bored immortals who've preserved humanity's achievements.

What Kael Thought:  A lushly photographed piece of twaddle....ideas skimmed off various systems of thought...a glittering cultural trashpile...the most fatuous movie since The Oscar... the passages between the laughs droop. 

A cult SF movie that is despised by  the majority of reviewers (5.6 IMDB rating).  Most find it absurd, others boring, and a few like it.  I found it very uneven, and I perfectly understand the low rating.  

The first act is boring and incomprehensible.  We get almost no dialogue, as we follow a half naked Sean Connery riding a horse, killing people, worshiping a floating stone head,  and being transported to the "Immortals" compound.  We have no idea what's going on - and what IS going on isn't that intresting. The whole section feels padded out and moves at a snails pace.  I'm sure most people never make it past the first 20 minutes.

But then it gets interesting.   In the second act, we learn Connery is amongst the "Immortals" who cant die and who are bored and can't have sex.  Connery is the subject of great interest and the next 45 mintues are quite engaging as we learn about this new society. It seems immortality isn't what its cracked up to be, and quite a few "Immortals" are unhappy.  And since its Sean Connery, quite a few are attracted to him. 

This is the best part of the movie,  beause the last act (35 minutes) is extremely drawn out.  We get a lot of chase scenes, people chanting and moaning,  weird cameras tricks and psychedelic special effects. And all to pad out the very simple plot:  Connery destroys the Vortex and brings death to the immortals.  The movie ends in a very cheesy scene, with "the exterminators" on horseback, coming in and killing all the immortals just like they had killed the "brutes" at the start.  Some of this is interesting but most of it is padding with no interesting dialogue. 

Summary:  I can see why most hate this movie and also why some like it. Its best seen on DVD, where you can FF past the boring, repetitive parts (which is to say about 50% of the movie).  The ideas behind the movie are derivitive but somewhat interesting,  and I'm sure clever people have read into the film more than what's actually there.  Boorman has some good things in the movie, but it needed a script doctor and bigger budget. 

Rewatchablity:  Low. Once you know the plot, a lot of the movie will be extremely boring. Probably the only way to rewatch would be to focus on Connery's interactions with Charlotte Rampling and Sara Kestelman and a few striking scenes and special effects.