Time Bandits (1981)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1981
	Director: Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Twelve Monkeys)
	Actors: Sean Connery (Highlander), Shelley Duvall, John Cleese (Life of Brian, Die Another Day), Ian Holm (The Lord of the Rings)
	Country: GB
	Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 26.10.2014, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: In the near future, a boy is forced to join with a bunch of time-travelling dwarves in their attempts at becoming rich.
Review: I have seen a few Terry Gilliam movies, but I only heard about this one recently in an article entitled "The Best Dwarf Movies That Are Not Willow" that I found after watching For Y'ur Height Only, and already knowing Willow. In this movie one can feel the touch of the director at a crossroads between the pure parodies like Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) or The Meaning of Life (1983), and more personal movies that however share some similar topics: time-travel in Twelve Monkeys (1995), anticipation in Brazil (1985), fantastic medieval times in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) and the aborted The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.  As often with his movies, the story is crazy and he obviously tried to put on screen some visions he had, with more or less success. So the movie is a succession of (sometimes abstract) scenes that look interesting, but this variety makes that rhythm is missing, and I had a hard time watching the movie until its end. Examples of such scenes are: the future family obsessed with kitchen-ware, the ogre living on a boat, itself located on the head of a giant, the meeting with Napoleon obsessed with his height, Evil fascinated by technology... It could look like a movie for children if it were not for some violent or disturbing scenes that would give them nightmares. A very special movie indeed, I am glad to have seen it but cannot really recommend it. As for the recently reviewed Knightriders, the Blu-ray edition of Time Bandits by Arrow is beautiful (see newly commissioned cover below), the image quality very good, and it contains many interviews, making-of documentaries and a booklet.
Rating: 3 /10