Sunday, 30 October 2022

Time Bandits (1981)


 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Time Bandits (1981) – T. Gilliam

Early outing by director Terry Gilliam (fresh from Monty Python) that holds up surprisingly well.  Young Kevin’s life with his boorish consumerist parents is disrupted by six time-travelling dwarves who have stolen a map from the Supreme Being that shows all of the holes in space-time, allowing them to steal treasures from various epochs. Unfortunately, the Evil Genius, who has been imprisoned in the Fortress of Darkness by the Supreme Being also wants the map in order to escape and refigure the world. Kevin and the little people meet Napoleon (Ian Holm), Robin Hood (John Cleese), and King Agamemnon (Sean Connery) before entering the Land of Legends where things get weirder. The special effects are pretty cool (for the time period) and although things get dark, it seems appropriate for kids.  At least until the end, when Kevin’s parents are turned into lumps of coal – Amon (aged 10) did not appreciate this and thought it spoiled the film.  So much for black comedy.


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