Time Bandits Reviews

Since I have always been interested in Terry Gilliam’s work, I was really eager to check this flick. Basically, it is another cult classic directed by Gilliam but, to be honest, I wasn’t completely blown away by the whole thing. Indeed, like many other movies coming from this interesting director, I thought that it was visually impressive but I actually had a rather hard time to connect with the story. I don't know, I guess, the story was not bad but, somehow I didn’t think it was really entertaining and I was rather bored from time to time while watching this flick. On the other hand, it has been a while since I have seen this movie so I should definitely re-watch it at some point to make up my mind for good about the damned thing. 4 years later, Gilliam would come with up ‘Brazil’ which would be a huge critical hit and it has been considered as Terry Gilliam’s magnum opus ever since. Coming back to our main feature, to conclude, even though I thought it was slightly disappointing, it was still an interesting and original feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Terry Gilliam’s work.

Query: would eccentric be the best word to describe Terry Gilliam’s films?

Sometimes to a fault, and sometimes to joyous effect, Gilliam’s work is always distinctly his. And Time Bandits is a combination of both his best and worst tendencies. The episodic film is only engaging in small parts, a total bore in others, but consistently trying to create something original.

The story follows a young boy as he joins a group of dwarfs who slip into various times and steal goods from each of them. Along the way he meets a cavalcade of stars dressing up as various historical and mythical figures. All the while they’re trying to escape from the Supreme Being and find their ship. It’s a bit of a mess to be honest, but it does offer up minor pleasures.

The special effects work does a lot to cover up the potholes in the plot and the inconsistent tone and narrative structure. A ship is really the hat of a giant, a bedroom wall keeps receding further and further out, and a child’s bedroom closet explodes with various guests coming out of it. Some of these tricks are neater than others, but they’re all pretty original and unique to behold. But a film cannot sustain itself on quirky images alone.

The reclaiming of the ship and the Supreme Being is a bit of a chore to get through, despite Ralph Richardson trying his best to appear menacing as a disembodied floating head. This doesn’t mean that the parade of guest stars is consistently better, but these detours can be wildly strange and entertaining. The two worst appearances have got to be Sean Connery as King Agamemnon and Shelley Duvall as a ditzy pansy. Duvall is just stuck with a lame character that doesn’t offer up much of a joke, while Connery is just miscast as an ancient Greek king. Much better are Ian Holm as Napolean and John Cleese as a droll Robin Hood. I’m still not sure what to make of the sideways trip with the ogres played by Peter Vaughan and Katherine Helmond, but I’m leaning more towards it being an unsuccessful trip, drunk on the strangeness of its images than landing a successful punch line.

Much like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Time Bandits is a film that erratically veers from one story point to another. Not always successful, but consistently deploying a variety of eccentric and original images and actors, I’d have to say that I landed more in the realm of enjoying it than not. A tighter script, editing has never been Gilliam’s strongest virtue, would have spun some wonders out of the same basic materials.