Beyond 1984, Beyond 2001, Beyond Love, Beyond Death.
In the far future, a savage trained only to kill finds a way into the community of bored immortals that alone preserves humanity's achievements.
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Character
Open-ended, contemporary, epic and grave.
- resolvedopen-ended
- contemporarynostalgic
- intimateepic
- gravecomic
- warmbleak
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“Is the ambiguity a cop-out?”
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“Is Sean Connery the best thing in Zardoz?”
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“Is it too big for its own story?”
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- drystyxon TMDB · Apr 20231/10
Is this worse than Never Say Never Again? It's very close. Both are among the worst 100 movies ever made. This one is a conglomerated mess. The writer can't communicate one coherent thought. There's not one coherent thing about this movie. So it's difficult to say what it's about, but it's dull, uninspiring, and uninspired. The hero played by Connery has no motivation for a single thing he does. He likes plain women more than pretty ones. When he speaks, there's no motivation in any of his lines. Sure, they're poorly written, but good actors give meaning to any line. Connery fails. Perhaps he meant to fail, because this was a horribly written screenplay. * Connery plays a savage who enters some sort of civilized land of people who behave like ancient Romans. That's about it. Some stupid character comes in and acts like he's a god, and the writer treats him like a god, for no reason, and he makes no sense. He drivels on and resembles Guy Fawkes, so that must be what the writer wants to convey. Who knows? It's poorly communicated. The ending is a blood bath that also makes no sense, with savages killing the pretty women instead of raping them. The writer and director both bungled thi
Read the whole review on TMDB - Wuchakon TMDB · Mar 20196/10
***When liberal fascism takes over*** Nearing the end of his physical prime, Sean Connery stars as Zed, an "Exterminator," who wants to discover the truth about "Zardoz," a gigantic menacing head and supposed god of earth in the year 2293. Zed stows away and sneaks into the "vortex" where live the ruling class of the planet, essentially futuristic hippies, extremely bored by their immortality. I was expecting something goofy like "Barbarella" (1968), but “Zardoz” (1974) is closer to "Logan's Run” (1976), yet weirder due to writer/director John Boorman’s eccentric style. It’s a completely serious 70's futuristic sci-fi flick, although Arthur Frayn/Zardoz (Niall Buggy) is amusing as a jester-like fop. “Zardoz” is a must for Connery fans as he sports a long ponytail & mustache and dashes around in a skimpy futuristic outfit throughout. Charlotte Rampling and Sara Kestelman star on the feminine front as leaders of Vortex 4, Consuella and May respectively. The former perceives Zed as a threat and therefore wants him executed whereas the latter finds him fascinating and perhaps useful. The cinematography, locations, score, sets, costumes and special effects are all pretty much first rate
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Cast
- Sean ConneryZed
- Charlotte RamplingConsuella
- Sara KestelmanMay
- John AldertonFriend
- Sally Anne NewtonAvalow
- Niall BuggyArthur Frayn / Zardoz
- Bosco HoganGeorge Saden
- Jessica SwiftApathetic
- Bairbre DowlingStar
- Christopher CassonOld Scientist
Crew
- John BoormanDirector
- John BoormanWriter
- Geoffrey UnsworthDirector of Photography
- David MunrowOriginal Music Composer
- John MerrittEditor
- John BoormanProducer
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Pairings
Companions we picked from the closest works, and how to take them.
Similar in taste
Closest on the same fourteen dimensions, from everything scored on Tastebuds Other media included when they land close.
Close across the board.
Ghost in the Shell 199570% alikeBoth grave, contemporary.
Predestination 201466% alikeBoth grave.
Ghost in the Shell 2.0 200865% alikeBoth contemporary, grave.
Crimes of the Future 202265% alikeBoth contemporary, grave, open-ended.
The Animatrix 200364% alikeBoth epic, grave, contemporary.
Nightbreed 199064% alikeBoth grave.
Twelve Monkeys 199564% alikeBoth epic, grave.
Game · Both grave, contemporary, epic.
Deus Ex 200069% alikeGame · Both epic, contemporary, grave.
Often watched with
Recommendations from TMDB. Opening one adds it to Tastebuds
