Zardoz is an odd – but striking – film. It has flaws, not least a wooden performance from Sean Connery (as Zed), but it has stayed with me over the past fifty years. And as countries have become increasingly obsessed with building walls to keep unwanted people out, the scenes of the “Brutals” locked out of “the Vortex”, while being terrorised and killed by the “Exterminators”, many of the film’s images and ideas have come back to haunt me. In fact, if perhaps only accidentally, Boorman anticipated many of the ills of the world we now inhabit – a world in which an excessively wealthy and privileged technocratic and political class talk and plan together in gated communities (the Vortex), or at privileged events like the Davos Summit, while the rest of us labour to feed and increase the wealth of these “Eternals”, or slide into becoming “Apathetics”. The Eternals manage to achieve one of the dreams of today’s Silicon Valley technocracy (eternal life) only to realise that it is not a blissful condition but a new burden, a reality that Swift’s struldbruggs were confronted with in Gulliver’s Travels. Also noteworthy is that in Zardoz the Eternals are protected by another dream of today’s techno-authoritarians – artificial intelligence (in the form of the Tabernacle, which gives them eternal life but fails them when Zed destroys it). And like the Eternals, today’s technocrats dream of conquering distant stars. The Eternals discovered that this was “just another dead end”. So too, perhaps, will the technocrats. To borrow a phrase from Henry James, Zardoz’s greatest weakness is that it is something of a “large, loose, baggy monster” that tends to tell rather than show (dramatize). But perhaps there is a place for such films. My takeaway: power groups, elites, empires and civilisations come and go, but they don’t last, usually because they harbour the seeds of their own destruction. At which point all that is left to say is, “How the mighty have fallen”.

This film has more magic in it's little finger than the whole Harry-Potter-Series together.

I first saw this movie when it came out in 1974. I was 26 years old at the time. I was dazzled. The movie was science fantasy, not science fiction, and as I looked over the reviews by such critics as Pauline Kael, Judith Krist, and other luminaries of their ilk, it was apparent to me that they didn't understand the move. The movie wrestles with the twin themes of mortality vs. immortality; and power through control vs. power through surrender. It forces an examination of value systems that morph into forms different from the intent behind their original formation. There are no problems greater than these in our human world. So the movie is indeed ambitious, but it succeeds in its ambition through imagination and artistry, potently framed by its use of the haunting second movement, the Allegretto, from Beethoven's 7th symphony. In my opinion this movie is a masterpiece. I saw it a second time when it cycled through the University of Texas campus while I was in graduate school in the late 70s. It was still great. I didn't see it again until the 1990s, after the invention of VHS videos and VCR players. It wasn't in Blockbuster's catalogue, but they ordered a copy they were willing to sell me. I happily forked over the requested $80. And I started watching it, a lot. Eventually it came out on DVD and I bought that also, and continued watching it. Now you can stream it. I've probably seen it more than 40 times. I get a re-charge of my personal batteries when I watch it. I'm so glad it was made. Thank you Mr. Boorman, wherever you are. (We know its not the Vortex.)

Strangely, this is one of those movies that (good or bad), once you give yourself over to it, you can't get out of your mind. You'll be doing, "Your ass is MINE, Trebek" Connery impersonations for days . . . !

I found this to be quite.... bizarre. On one hand, the performances are good, and on the other hand, the story and execution was.... strange.

Very interesting movie, not boring for a single minute. Great world building and crazy story! Some questionable acting at times, especially from background characters

I studied this film in college and made it part of my List of Science Fiction Films thesis paper. This puzzled my instructor who felt it was a strange choice at best. Directed by John Boorman following his huge hit movie "Deliverance." He literally had Card Blanche to make any picture he wanted, and this was his pet project. Not such a great idea. Just ask George Lucas who made THX 1138 after the success of American Graffiti. The movie starred Sir Sean Connery as Zed in a performance that really isn't one of his best. The first choice was Burt Reynolds who starred in Deliverance and I feel would have been the perfect choice. Both actors are handsomely rugged and strong with hairy chests but the material called for a ruthless killer who has figured out he can be so much more. Connery is smug and too refined for the role. He doesn't belong in this universe. Burt has that mean streak that makes be believe he could actually kill everybody in the room and be home for dinner. Especially in his prime. But anyway, the Movie is not quite a dark comedy, or a satire or even an allegory. One it is I think a complex look at the human experience for the existential point of view. The movie takes place in the year 2293. Zardoz is a giant floating head that supplies the outsiders with weapons so they can keep the population under control. One of these Raiders is Zed. But he is different from the others. He explores the ruin of the waste lands and gains knowledge but learning from artifacts he finds. The plot is not into explaining what is going on but we do have a narrator who talks in whimsical prose that makes no sense at the time but later is the truth behind the film's actions. Zed sneaks aboard Zardoz and kills the narrator at the beginning but we find out that he is immortal and is regenerated back to life but while that is happening Zed is taken into the Vortex where the Immortals live. The best part of the film is how they react to him, and we start to get the rundown on how and why the Vortex exist. You really have to pay attention to follow all this. That's why I suggest this to be a dark comedy and satire. The films ending for me was a disappointment thus the 3 and a half stars. Though it does make sense I was waiting for a mind-blowing resolution. This is one of those pictures that should have gone all the way. I know the Studio had no idea what this was so they might have forced some changes as the end feels a little rushed. I can see that this was a film of its time. (Blame it on 2001) It has some fascinating and deep ideas and for the most part they all work. I didn't understand it all when I was 14 and didn't care much for it until I saw it again in college. So, this is not for everyone. But those movie goers who like a good challenge it a real trip.

Why does everyone in this film look perpetually stoned? I do have to hand it to John Boorman because when he's good, he's great but when he's bad, he's terrible with Zardoz being the ultimate exercise in self-indulgence. An incomprehensible misfire that proves impossibly ambitious and pretentious yet also inventive, provocative and visually striking. The plot is so spectacularly offbeat that it's never boring, though it's routinely idiotic, plenty of ideas have gone into the film but any form of cohesion has been sacrificed to create a mass of inoperative fancies and conceits. Sean Connery wanders about the film acting like a man who agreed to do something before he grasped what it actually is he agreed to do, nonetheless he never gives anything less than his best, even when wearing one of the worst costumes I've ever seen. Zardoz remains a fascinating reminder of what cinematic science fiction used to be like. A hodge-podge of literary allusions, highbrow porn, sci-fi staples, half-baked intellectualism and a real desire to do something revelatory misses the mark by a hundred miles.

Ein Glück, dass Boorman nach diesem unfassbaren Scheissdreck überhaupt noch Filme machen durfte.

The first 5 or so minutes of this movie are AWESOME. It really loses its way but it could have been something. The first 5 minutes are great tho, I wish that someone would come along and make a movie thats like the beginning of Zardoz. A barren post apocalyptic wasteland with crazy blood thirsty cultists in Zardoz masks who worship bloodshed and terror and are ruled over and manipulated by crazy flying rock statues. I'm totally serious.

People love to beat up on this movie, mainly because of the ridiculous costuming. A very hairy Sean Connery in an orange Borat swimsuit is hard to take seriously. Nevertheless, it is inventive. Made by the same director as Excalibur, you can see the 60's psychedelic influence carry across both films, not just in the jerky camera, saturated colors, and trippy reflections, but in the sounds. The sound effects guy really goes to town finding all sorts of bizarre noises.

The greatest 01 hour: and 44 minutes ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This movie is very silly in its own way. But, as a sci-fi fan, I really enjoyed it.

OK, this is not a GOOD film, but years later I still can't forget watching it so it is memorable. And very very very weird.

Over the course of his career, John Boorman (Deliverance, Hope and Glory) proved to be a pretty decent director…and this is what makes Zardoz so puzzling. Looking at it objectively, it is about as bad as a movie can be, the definitive low point in Boorman's career. The storyline is incomprehensible at best, the script, written by Boorman, is filled with trite dialogue, resulting in the actors spouting nonsensical gibberish throughout the film, the sets look like something from an Ed Wood movie, the special effects are consistently laughable, and the acting is brutal, including that of Sean Connery, who spends most of the movie running around in a red diaper. The prevailing question that will probably be asked throughout Zardoz will be along the lines of ‘what the hell is going on here?'

This makes "Logan's Run" - a bonafide PoS! - look positively brilliant. The suckiness gets worse with every minute of runtime; I made it to the 69 minute mark before I gave up on this. When a script resorts to narration halfway through in a last gasp effort to explain the story, you've got a stinker on your hands. We know Sean Connery got out of the 007 franchise for fear of being typecast, but did he have to sign on to THIS miserable excuse of a script? Incidentally, when the opening credits begin with "A film from Joe Blow" then you know Mr. Blow is a pretentious asshole.

I'm pretty sure that somewhere under the big mess this film was there is an actually good sci-fi idea, just not done in the right way. The film grabs your attention during the first couple of minutes, but after that it's a huge dissapointment and at times it feels all over the place.

Sean Connery movies were a staple for me growing up watching movies with my dad, and this one has been on my list since I saw in mentioned in a remembrance for the late actor. I should have read a bit more about this one before watching it, because the main thing to say is that it is just so bad. The first half of the movie is bad in a "so bad it's good kind of way", with wacky costumes and Sean Connery as a super sexed up he-man who is a captive of a bunch of impuissant immortals. At this point I glanced at my watch and thought "oh no, how can this go on for anther hour?" and I was right to be dismayed, since the film then veers into some complicated plot, lots of shouting and running around, moralizing, a whole lot of mirrors, and then miraculously my eyebrows were able to rise even higher for a completely bizarre ending. Snippets of this movie were fun and it certainly sticks in the mind, but I can only recommend to see this one if you are looking for a trip of dubious quality.

This post-apocalyptic, ultra-campy, silly sci-fi/fantasy feels like a well-financed student film made from a script based on the Coles Notes version of “Philosophy For Dummies”. If there’s some greater meaning here, I didn’t get it. #nitrosMovieChallenge

BIG HEAD IS GOOD ME LIKE BIG HEAD sean i like your body rug REBOOT PLEASE WITH THE HEAD PLAYED BY CHRIS PRATT