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By
WAYNE KLEIN
Somebody better get Terry
Gilliam on a psychologist's coach. All of
Gilliam's films have, at their core, a child-like
sense of wonder surrounded by an adult's cynical
understanding of the workings of the world.
Whether it is his magnum opus "Brazil" or his
misfired eulogy to the 60's and 70's, "Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas", Gilliam manages to invest
enough creativity for ten movies into a single
two-hour film. His cynical, sarcastic wit and use
of American and British icons to tell subversive
Grimm's Fairy Tales for the modern world make him
a challenging film director at worst, and an
entertaining one at best.
One of Gilliam's best early films has finally been
released to DVD the way it should have been
before. "Time Bandits" tells the story of Kevin
(Craig Warnock) a little boy who gets sucked into
a crime spree by six of God's little helpers
(David Rappaport, Kenny Baker, Jack Purvis, Mike
Edmonds, Malcom Dixon, Tiny Ross). It seems these
diminutive men have stolen God's (Ralph
Richardson) map that shows where various doorways
exist to different times and places. They plan on
using it to rob the rich and famous from the past.
Along the way they fleece Robin Hood (John Cleese
playing the character as if he's a member of the
Royal Family); Napoleon (Ian Holm) who is fixated
on seeing funny "little people"; King Agamemnon
(Sean Connery) who wants to adopt Kevin after the
boy helps him defeat an opponent in battle and an
Ogre with a bad back, a nasty case of boils and
allergies. The only problem is that God's pursuing
them, aware that they've taken the map. They have
an unknown and unlikely "friend": Evil (an oily
and very funny David Warner). Evil wants to obtain
the map and leads our heroes astray to his lair,
the Fortress of Ultimate Darkness. The film also
features Python alum Michael Palin, Shelley
Duvall, Katherine Helmond and Peter Vaughn.
The stunning transfer was done using a high
definition video transfer of the film. The film
was also transferred using the anamorphic
widescreen technique which manages to squeeze more
lines of resolution resulting in better clarity
and a vivid picture. The soundtrack has been
re-mastered and remixed using Dolby Digital
Surround 5.1 EX audio (which has better clarity
than the normal Dolby Digital Surround 5.1
method). The soundtrack is much improved although
keep in mind it reveals the limitations of the low
budget and the time it was made (1981).
This new edition is presented in the original
widescreen aspect ratio (1.85:1) so those little
pesky black bars at the top and bottom of the film
that some people hate are very much in evidence.
The first disc consists of the film. The second
disc has a variety of interesting extras including
"The Directors: the Films of Terry Gilliam" which
was originally produced for cable television. It
features a variety of new interviews with the
participants of all Gilliam's films. The
documentary is supplemented with a new twenty
minute interview with Gilliam and
co-writer/co-star Michael Palin discussing the
genesis and production of the film. Additionally,
the very funny international trailer and less
interesting domestic trailer for the film are
included as well. And there's a Gilliam bio and
DVD-ROM content including the original shooting
screenplay for the film. Finally, there's a nice
fold-out Map of the Universe similar to the one
used by our heroes in the film.
Although this hilarious modern fairy tale classic
was designed for children and adults to enjoy, the
mysteriously downbeat ending might make it a bit
disturbing for really small children. There are
also a handful of minor curse words that parents
should be aware of as well. |
