I think I may have actually seen this before, but I don't remember much about it other then being bored and not enjoying it. This time around, if it is the second time, I pretty much thought the same thing. I chuckled a few times, but all in all, I was very underwhelmed. Jokes didn't land, shots went on too long, and the movie relied on characters that just weren't all that fun to watch.
Although this is Terry Gilliam's first solo foray away from the Pythons and even with Michael Palin as the star, and a few cameos from Terry Jones and Gilliam himself, there just wasn't a lot of magic here. One of the main reasons why is that Palin's main character seems to be shoved to the background of all the jokes. We watch the king, the knights, the innkeeper, and even Palin's neighbors the Fishfingers take center stage every time they are on screen together. While these scenes affect Palin, they never really involve him more than being hidden under a shield or dragged along against his will. It makes it feel like this movie has no main character. No one to follow, no one to root for, or at least laugh at. I was most interested in the knight with the horned helmet that cut people in half. I could have watched 100 minutes of Palin being his squire as he went through the life of a medieval knight until facing a horrid monster and never getting credit for it.
It's not the most entertaining film, but it is probably worth one watch just to see where Gilliam's solo stuff started.
Side Note: I watched this on a 10 cent VHS which had three pictures from the film on the back. Well two from the film, and one from Monty Python's Holy Grail, I guess trying to use the Python's popularity to sell this to the unwashed. Like me.
Although this is Terry Gilliam's first solo foray away from the Pythons and even with Michael Palin as the star, and a few cameos from Terry Jones and Gilliam himself, there just wasn't a lot of magic here. One of the main reasons why is that Palin's main character seems to be shoved to the background of all the jokes. We watch the king, the knights, the innkeeper, and even Palin's neighbors the Fishfingers take center stage every time they are on screen together. While these scenes affect Palin, they never really involve him more than being hidden under a shield or dragged along against his will. It makes it feel like this movie has no main character. No one to follow, no one to root for, or at least laugh at. I was most interested in the knight with the horned helmet that cut people in half. I could have watched 100 minutes of Palin being his squire as he went through the life of a medieval knight until facing a horrid monster and never getting credit for it.
It's not the most entertaining film, but it is probably worth one watch just to see where Gilliam's solo stuff started.
Side Note: I watched this on a 10 cent VHS which had three pictures from the film on the back. Well two from the film, and one from Monty Python's Holy Grail, I guess trying to use the Python's popularity to sell this to the unwashed. Like me.