Zardoz

Year: 1974 (USA)
Genre: Sci-Fi Drama
Directed: John Boorman
Stars: Sean Connery, Charlotte Rampling, Sara Kestelman, John Alderton, Sally Anne Newton, Niall Buggy, Bosco Hogan, Jessica Swift
Production: John Boorman Productions


In a faraway post-apocalyptic future, the world is ablaze with anarchy and feudal war. One barbaric horde seems to be favored by the god they call Zardoz, a floating stone face which gives its favored people guns to kill and enslave others. Zed (Sean Connery), an Exterminator grows suspicious and investigates beyond the Vortex to find a community of Immortal humans pulling the strings.

There are many weighty themes expanded upon in Zardoz (1974) including life, death, eugenics, law, artificial intelligence and the pursuit of knowledge. The Immortals of the Vortex have developed a complex social structure that takes advantage of their psychic abilities while placating their corrupt sensibilities. In time we come to understand the what, when, why and how of such a place and Connery’s Zed comes to grips with what he has to do to help humanity.

Seriously, what the hell?

That’s all well and good but even at a modest 105 minutes, the film feels like a marathon. The movie glacially moves towards revealing pieces of the puzzle yet there is too little tension or character empathy to hold interest. Head-cocking images are lathered on the screen attempting to create a complex mosaic of symbolism and iconography but only serve to confuse and trouble the viewer. It’s obvious that John Boorman was looking to make his own 1984 but only succeeded in showing how shoddy set dressing really was in the 70’s. Seriously, what were the makers of this film thinking? My theory is after the success of Deliverance (1972); Boorman was given carte blanche to do whatever he wanted thus this strange, seriously flawed film.

Part of the blame lies with the scrabbled script also written by John Boorman which fails to balance its high-minded themes and in so doing fails to give the audience characterization, narrative or plot. Sean Connery’s Zed probably only had twenty lines in the entire movie while Bosco Hogan’s character Saden unconvincingly oozes superficiality by talking oh so excessively. Charlotte Rampling tries her best to adapt to a script that is openly hostel to her. She and other female characters are treated so diminutively and savagely it seemed the only point of their existence in the world of Zardoz was T & A.

Also penis...

I suppose if I wanted to peak anyone’s interest in Zardoz, I could tell you the film is cluttered with biblical allegory, existential philosophy and prying conversations about the nature of man (most of which take a Freudian dimension). I can understand someone liking this mess and putting it into the same category as the equally misanthropic The Fountain (2006). The more misguided might welcome comparisons to Brazil (1985), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughter-House Five.

Yea no, Zardoz is to Kurt Vonnegut what The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002) is to Jules Verne. This movie is a confusing jumble that never holds the attention and certainly holds no value outside its lofty premise. The future of the human race has never looked so blah and inconceivably morose. Add to that Sean “I-was-once-James Bond” Connery in a red leather man thong and you have yourself on of the most bizarre science fiction flicks to ever be produced. Ever wanted to know what an ugly mix of decent ideas looks like? Check out Zardoz.

Final Grade: F