Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Young history buff Kevin can scarcely believe it when six dwarfs emerge from his closet one night. Former employees of the Supreme Being, they've purloined a map charting all of the holes in the fabric of time and are using it to steal treasures from different historical eras. Taking Kevin with them, they variously drop in on Napoleon, Robin Hood and King Agamemnon before the Supreme Being catches up with them.
Time Bandits is a genuinely singular piece of work — Terry Gilliam's anarchic imagination produces a film that feels utterly unlike anything else: a children's adventure that is simultaneously a dark philosophical satire on good, evil, and the indifference of the universe. The episodic romp through history with morally ambiguous dwarf thieves gives it a distinctive voice and tone that earns a high Novelty score. The plot is deliberately picaresque and uneven, which is part of the charm but also a structural weakness — episodes vary wildly in quality and the connective tissue is thin. Acting is solid across the board with strong cameos (Sean Connery, John Cleese, Ian Holm) but nothing transcendent. Cinematography is competent and occasionally imaginative, reflecting Gilliam's visual sensibility without reaching the heights of Brazil. The ending — bleak, abrupt, and darkly funny with Kevin's parents exploding from Evil's residue — is memorable and thematically bold, if divisive and somewhat rushed.