Eye Candy #22 - "Zardoz"

Zardoz: A deeply weird and overindulgent entry into the deeply weird pool of apocalyptic future visions of the late 60-early 70's that gave us such hits like "2001" and "Planet of the Apes" and such misses as "Soylent Green", "Omega Man", and well, "Zardoz". John Boorman is either way on or way off in his films, and here he is WAAAAY off. The story of Zed (Sean Connery), an Exterminator in a futuristic society that worships a giant flying stone head named Zardoz. He finds a way into a colony of Eternals, immortal intellectuals who live in a secure zone called the Vortex, leading largely meaningless lives. They cannot die and have found themselves in a stagnant society which Zed then shakes up violently. This film is, to put it succinctly, DOPEY. Visually, it looks cheap, a full step and a half beneath "Logan's Run" or "Silent Running", but still trying to be as profound as "2001". The acting that is over-the-top and melodramatic, the directing provides us with visual images that only serve themselves. The plot is hard to follow, the characters are almost wholly unsympathetic, and when all is said and done, it leaves you with a giant feeling of "meh". Interesting as a curio only. Go see just about anything else by Boorman than this. Woodchuck sez, "Skip it."