Director/writer/actor Terry Gilliam is known for making fantastical fantasy films that stretch the creative mind. I'd like to say this film stretched the creative mind, but in reality all it ever did is poke at it, and tease it. We're given a lot of potential for a great film, and a lot of great set pieces, wonderful entertainers (Monty Python's John Cleese and Michael Palin), and a script with many moments of good comedy, but what it comes down to, is that this film's disjointedness ruins it's potential of being great.
Kevin (Craig Warnock) is thrown into a fantastical world when six greedy little people (aka the Time Bandits) land in his room through a time vortex. Kevin ends up falling into another vortex with these men, and goes through various times and places, along the way meeting Napolean (Ian Holm), Robinhood (John Cleese), King Agamemnon (Sean Connery). They are stopped in their path by the Evil Genis (David Wariner), who is trying to become the Supreme Being and beat out God.
Most of this movie's problems come in it's structure. The main villain isn't established until fairly far into the film, and it isn't until the climax that the villain gets any screen time over five minutes. We're also thrown into the plot very early, and once it's realized what's going on, it becomes an anthology. The first hour plus is going from well known historical set piece to well known historical set piece. It's interesting to see Gilliams take on history, but at the same time it never establishes anything about the film, or the characters (except that the Time Bandits want to get rich, and Kevin wants out).
For the positives, the acting is good, and the film is fairly consistently at least entertaining. There's a lot of quirky funny characters from different times, and then there's one who really isn't funny at all...Sean Connery as Agamemnon. It's not that Connery did a bad job, it's just he was not given one joke, or one funny thing to say. It's just like he's there, for the sake of being there. Still Connery gives a good performance, as does everyone else involved. The ending of the movie is so bizarre, but also hilarious. It's an ending to be remembered, as I still remembered it 10 plus years after watching the film.
Overall, this movie is entertaining. It's got good characters, and it looks very stylish. But, you may find yourself wishing for a more substantial plot, and perhaps a little more center.
My rating: ** 1/2 out of ****. 115 mins. PG for some language, crude innuendos and violence.
Kevin (Craig Warnock) is thrown into a fantastical world when six greedy little people (aka the Time Bandits) land in his room through a time vortex. Kevin ends up falling into another vortex with these men, and goes through various times and places, along the way meeting Napolean (Ian Holm), Robinhood (John Cleese), King Agamemnon (Sean Connery). They are stopped in their path by the Evil Genis (David Wariner), who is trying to become the Supreme Being and beat out God.
Most of this movie's problems come in it's structure. The main villain isn't established until fairly far into the film, and it isn't until the climax that the villain gets any screen time over five minutes. We're also thrown into the plot very early, and once it's realized what's going on, it becomes an anthology. The first hour plus is going from well known historical set piece to well known historical set piece. It's interesting to see Gilliams take on history, but at the same time it never establishes anything about the film, or the characters (except that the Time Bandits want to get rich, and Kevin wants out).
For the positives, the acting is good, and the film is fairly consistently at least entertaining. There's a lot of quirky funny characters from different times, and then there's one who really isn't funny at all...Sean Connery as Agamemnon. It's not that Connery did a bad job, it's just he was not given one joke, or one funny thing to say. It's just like he's there, for the sake of being there. Still Connery gives a good performance, as does everyone else involved. The ending of the movie is so bizarre, but also hilarious. It's an ending to be remembered, as I still remembered it 10 plus years after watching the film.
Overall, this movie is entertaining. It's got good characters, and it looks very stylish. But, you may find yourself wishing for a more substantial plot, and perhaps a little more center.
My rating: ** 1/2 out of ****. 115 mins. PG for some language, crude innuendos and violence.