Time Bandits

Starring: John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelly Duvall, Ian Holm, David Warner, Kenny Baker, Craig Warnock
Written by: Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin
Director: Terry Gilliam
Year: 1981

Rating: * * *   Stars       +       (Fan Bonus *  )  Total: * * * *

The first of Terry Gilliam's Trilogy of the Absurd, Time Bandits is a delightful film spoofing history, mythology, and theology, all in the name of becoming "stinking rich."

A band of bumbling dwarves steal a map that shows all the holes in time and space. They decide to quit their jobs working with the Supreme Being and creation, and to exploit it by committing robberies. They warp into the room of a 10 year old English boy named Kevin (Craig Warnock) who's parents are more concerned over household appliances than their own child. The Supreme Being tracks them down, and they flee into the next portal taking Kevin with them. What follows is one jump after another throughout history as the dwarfs try and establish themselves as world class thieves. But the Supreme Being isn't the only one interested in the map. The Evil Genius (David Warner), trapped in the fortress of ultimate darkness, also wants the map to escape his fortress and undo creation.

This is classic British comedy at its finest. Small budget effects jell with witty dialogue and satirical situations. David Warner is absolutely at his best as the Evil Genius, Devil, Lord of Darkness, call him what you will. This evil being is obsessed with technology, and wouldn't waste his time with creation as God did. He even reflects on slugs. "Slugs! He created slugs. They can't hear. They can't speak. They can't operate machinery. Are we not in the hands of a lunatic?" And like all evil geniuses, he is surrounded by complete morons and retards. Or, as he points out, "mercifully free of the ravages of intelligence."

Craig Warnock plays Kevin as a wide-eyed youngster who shares in their adventures but finds home, love, and a Father figure in in ancient Greece, with King Agamemnon (Sean Connery). Yet the dwarves rescue him from his happiness as they now are out to pursue the most fabulous object in the world, hidden in the time of legends, and is, in reality, a trap set by the Evil Genius.

John Cleese plays Robin Hood, a man of charity in a colorful outfit. The Merry Men however, are a gross motley of diseased scum. Wait till you get a load of maid Marian. Ian Holm plays Napoleon, the great French General with a, surprise, Napoleon complex. He likens himself to the great, short statured rulers of history. naturally, he embraces the dwarves as "his kid of people."

Terry shoots plenty of scenes in the film with low camera angles to give the film the perspective of the heroes, a small child and dwarves. Also slow motion and puppetry are used in key scenes when a giant crushes a home.  George Harrison is uncredited with the film's soundtrack "A Dream Away." The film itself is funded by Harrison's production company dedicated to funding independent films.

Time Bandits seems to have had a younger target audience in mind, but seems to appeal to the high school/college crowd who appreciate its dry humor, sense of satire, and cult status among Monty Python enthusiasts.

SEE THE TRAILER: Time Bandits