On a post-apocalyptic Earth, a good wizard leads a quest
to stop a war and destroy his brother, an evil wizard. ACTION/FANTASY
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Wizards (1977)Written and Directed by Ralph Bakshi
Starring Bob Holt, Jesse Welles, Richard Romanus, Steve Gravers, David Proval, Jim Connell |
Wizards is one of the weirdest movies I've ever seen, but it's also one of the most creative. Not many screenwriters could combine wizards, post-apocalypse, demons, and Nazis into a coherent script, yet Ralph Bakshi accomplishes that and some. The animation is very 70's, and reminiscent of a fantasy epic vibe that never left that decade. Of course, the film is not without its problems. The story, while intriguing, makes little sense, and the ending is fairly anticlimactic, even though it does have one of the greatest moments in film history. But more on that later.
Millions of years after mankind was nearly wiped out by nuclear war, the true ancestors of man have reclaimed the planet. Fairies, elves, and wizards now rule Earth, and two wizard brothers are destined to do battle. Avatar the good (Bolt) and Blackwolf the evil (Gravers). Blackwolf resurrects the propaganda of Nazi Germany to fuel his army's rage, including actual archive footage of Adolf Hitler, which is pretty damn ballsy. The film is Avatar and his friends questing to defeat Blackwolf, which Avatar does by abruptly shooting him twice in the chest. It's amazing, out of character, completely sidelines the audience, and is one of the best things I've ever seen a movie do. I think Wizards is definitely an acquired taste, but fans of Bakshi have embraced it for decades alongside Fritz the Cat and Cool World, among others. You can tell this was a labor of love, but it's not for everybody. It's got a very convoluted story that wants to be akin to The Lord of the Rings, but ends up being more like The Black Cauldron or The Last Unicorn. |