Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits (1981) doesn't seem similar to the director's output at first. But after a group of time traveling dwarves pop out of an American kid's closet (while being chased by a floating, animated head), you know you are watching a Gilliam flick. The film tells the story of the said group attempting rob the rich in different periods of time, but at some point the story takes a turn by introducing the main villain, "Evil Genius".
It seems as if Gilliam had run out of steam by the time he made this film. What begins as a peculiar social commentary turns into a series of peculiar recreations of historical events and then you are given the strangest cinematic battle ever. The film feels like a cheap Monty Python imitation with only a few good gags and no coherency of any sort. The characters are flat and not even funny - apart from Evil Genius who is a true delight in this confusing film. The screenplay only manages to become solid once the group gets into the fortress of the main villain.
Even though the set and costume design are spot-on in their bizarreness, Gilliam's form is mostly hit-and-miss in terms of cinematography and editing. There is the same sort of uncontrolled and (horribly) alienation chaos in its form like there is in its content.
Sadly Gilliam misses the potential of a great premise. His bizarre vision saves the film from being a failure, somehow.
Score: 5 out of 10
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