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Zardoz

Play trailer Poster for Zardoz R 1974 1h 44m Sci-Fi Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
49% Tomatometer 41 Reviews 53% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
In the future, Earth is ruled by Eternals, an advanced and secret sect of beings who reign over a savage group called Brutals. The Eternals have created a god named Zardoz to intimidate the Brutals, making them believe that killing is their natural state. However, Zed (Sean Connery), a Brutal warrior, challenges that assumption when he enters the Zardoz monument and is captured by an Eternal (Charlotte Rampling). There, he learns the truth about the Eternals and the false god that rules society.
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Zardoz

Zardoz

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Critics Consensus

Zardoz is ambitious and epic in scope, but its philosophical musings are rendered ineffective by its supreme weirdness and rickety execution.

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Critics Reviews

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Pauline Kael The New Yorker Sep 21, 2023
The film is a mass of inoperative whimsies and conceits; they're imperative even on the dumbest sci-fi level, because Boorman isn't enough of a writer to make them work together. Go to Full Review Judith Crist New York Magazine/Vulture Oct 2, 2019
[Zardoz] demonstrates how one can make a cheap sci-fi flick look like a cheap sci-fi flick by using mirrors and prisms as substitutes for imagination. Go to Full Review William Thomas Empire Magazine Mar 27, 2019
1/5
You have to hand it to John Boorman. When he's brilliant, he's brilliant (Point Blank, Deliverance) but when he's terrible, he's really terrible. Go to Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Jul 5, 2026
2.5/4
A maddeningly inconsistent movie. Go to Full Review Michael Walsh The Province (Vancouver) Apr 14, 2026
An ambitious undertaking, Zardoz has its share of little failures. Overall, though, it comes as close as any science-fiction film ever has to being a logically consistent, fully realized vision. Go to Full Review Dennis Harvey 48 Hills Feb 15, 2024
This shallow utopia needs our hairy hero’s dose of he-manliness... Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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alan R @Siempre Sep 28, 2026 Zardoz is a fantastic movie from an era of thinking movies that blend sci fi and fantasy with psychology. The movie is wild and controversial exploring freedom versus safety in the most extreme way. See more Robert P @Superbad Sep 6, 2026 Zardoz is not a fantastic movie See more Thomas V @TomVee Aug 9, 2026 Genuinely out-there sci fi, with some big ideas couched in a mix of psychedelia, silly costumes, uneven, often cheesy dialogue and FX, and a muddled, confusing plot, but it all kinda works somehow and is definitely more than it seems at first glance. It's very much a product of the early 70s in its aesthetic, with movies like A Clockwork Orange, Sleeper, and Logan's Run coming to mind, not so much thematically, but in the use of color and fashions that are not too far removed from the swinging 60s. Thematically, it's interesting to see in our new age of AI and our growing paranoia about the elites that may control AI, pursue extreme longevity, and hold sway over our destiny. See more Jon D @RT54138985 Aug 3, 2026 So bizarre, it's good. 4/5 See more bob C @RT46426964 Apr 9, 2026 If you like Sean Connery in a red diaper, man bun and long boots: ok. Otherwise junk. Junk with Charlotte Rampling, but. See more Ari V @RT59419633 Apr 8, 2026 Perhaps I gave it a little extra for its time capsule qualities, but really not much. Genuinely surprising what quality PhiScifi this is. Not without a minor shortcoming here and there, put far deeper than its facade lets on. See more Read all reviews
Zardoz

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Cast & Crew

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John Boorman

Director

Sean Connery

Zed

Charlotte Rampling

Consuella

Sara Kestelman

May

Sally Anne Newton

Avalow

John Alderton

Friend

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Zardoz

Zardoz (1974) Zardoz (1974) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis In the future, Earth is ruled by Eternals, an advanced and secret sect of beings who reign over a savage group called Brutals. The Eternals have created a god named Zardoz to intimidate the Brutals, making them believe that killing is their natural state. However, Zed (Sean Connery), a Brutal warrior, challenges that assumption when he enters the Zardoz monument and is captured by an Eternal (Charlotte Rampling). There, he learns the truth about the Eternals and the false god that rules society.
Director
John Boorman
Producer
John Boorman
Screenwriter
John Boorman
Production Co
John Boorman Productions
Rating
R
Genre
Sci-Fi
Original Language
British English
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 1, 2013
Runtime
1h 44m
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