Zardoz (1974)
Zardoz Photos
Movie Info
Watch it now
Cast
as Zed
as Consuella
as May
as Avalow
as Friend
as Arthur Frayn/Zardoz
as Star
as George Saden
as Apathetic
as Death
as Star
as Old Scientist
as Death
News & Interviews for Zardoz
Critic Reviews for Zardoz
All Critics (20) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (9) | Rotten (11) | DVD (4)
Such a wildly ambitious misfire that you can't help but root for it, or at least feel some twisted sense of affection for it.
Boorman puts a lot of heavy concepts into Zardoz, but seems uncertain whether he takes them seriously himself.
Weird, fatuous and tedious fantasy futuristic sci-fi cult film.
While it can't hope to achieve its grand ambitions, it's smart, it has some sharp dialogue, and the surrealism-on-a-shoestring visuals are undeniably striking.
Pretty contrived sci-fi with leathery Sean Connery.
Magnificently sensational. Love it!
Audience Reviews for Zardoz
All sci-fi have the imprint of the times that made them and few as much as this one, a gloriously wild and futuristic party that ultimately goes nowhere. Society has found a way to cheat death, it appears, but that's about all. Nothing else seems worthwhile afterwards and so life becomes a bore, a party wherein everyone's heard all the jokes that there are. Connery's character, named Zed (get it?) is created then to kill the endless monotony, and everyone else. It's an ambitious work with a unique take on the future and interesting, particularly with it's partier's eye for entertainment (which matches succinctly with the view of most sci-fi devotees). Most worthy.
Super Reviewer
An underrated futuristic social satire that is definitely self-indulgent but also more thought-provoking and smart than it appears to be, while its mind-blowing visuals and bizarre dialogue contribute to give shape to a surrealistic allegory that is both fascinating and original.
Super Reviewer
An "outlander" mortal killer stows away inside a flying head to reach "the vortex," a land of bored immortals who view him as either a threat, a curiosity, or a savior. The crazy mix of high camp (Sean Connery running around in a red diaper), serious speculative sci-fi and budget psychedelic effects could only have been made in the 1970s; it's a highly entertaining cult movie time capsule.
Super Reviewer
Zardoz Quotes
| Zed: | Zardoz speaks to you. |
| Arthur Frayn: | I am Arthur Frayn, and I am Zardoz. |
| Avalow: | Death approaches! We are all mortal again! Now we can say 'yes' to death, but never again 'no'. Now, we must make our farewells: to each other, to the sun and moon, trees and sky, earth and rock; the landscape of our long waking-dream. |
| Zed: | What is it you want? |
| Friend: | Sweet death. Oblivion. |
| Zed: | For yourself, or for the whole Vortex? |
| Friend: | For everybody. An end to the human race. It has plagued this pretty planet for far too long. |