Movie Review: Time Bandits

Time Bandits: Torgo disapproves

This movie hasn't aged well. Also going against it is Terry Gilliam's seams-out style. It all feels like a movie that should be on MST3k.

That's unfortunate because there are a number of good things going on. There is the Monty Python troupe. There's a rather clever story idea. And there's Terry Gilliam's imagination.

I remember liking Twelve Monkeys, and I thought Fear and Loathing was terrific. I think these larger-scale productions just aren't his best work.

Lost in La Mancha was great, because it was a chance to see Gilliam approach the movie.

Even if I hadn't seen that, though, I think Time Bandits would suffer because it's so transparent. I never got sucked into the story because the visuals and effects were so clearly sets and miniatures, matte paintings and fake rocks. I could hear Gilliam telling the extras in crazy costumes to just wiggle your hook hand around and run that way.

Even though George Lucas showed he's a terrible director with the latter Star Wars trilogy, in the very first movie, from 1977, his vision was larger than his budget or the technology. That movie makes you believe you're on another planet even though it's the African desert.

Time Bandits also reminds me of something E. Ethelbert Miller said in a poetry workshop about a poem that mentions a cell phone. He said to be wary of images that time stamp your work, things that may seem hopelessly outdated 5 or 10 years from now. Think of how your work will appear to audiences for decades to come.

Time Bandits is clearly from 1981.