Destined to be remembered for one sad fact, Terry Gilliam's latest comes across as an attempted 'Gilliam's Greatest Hits'. There are flashes of the great man's talent, but they are few and far between. A confused plot - obviously not helped by the death of Heath Ledger - meanders along and evident budgetary restrictions mean it doesn't have the scope of some of his former work.
Gilliam co-wrote the original screenplay and revolves it around the theme of imagination. Dr Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) is a 1,000 year-old travelling performer, whose circus rumbles into modern day London promising paying customers that they can fulfil their wildest fantasies behind its shiny screens. He is aided by his daughter (Lily Cole) for whom he has made a Faustian pact with Tom Wait's devil-figure, as well as Andrew Garfield as Mercury, an aide-de-theatre with his own designs on Cole's character.
Into all of this drops Heath Ledger's Tony, and this is where it starts to get really confusing. It appears he is some sort of scoundrel who is responsible for financial mismanagement at a charity he ran: with creditors on his tail, he takes up the cause of Parnassus, gleefully coming up with ideas to improve the travellers' lot.
Ledger delivers a mumbly, jerky performance which doesn't give his co-stars that much to bounce off. Lily Cole suffers from this and in her first starring role fails to convince. It's left to Plummer (marvellously calm in the face of impending adversity) and the impressive Garfield to really draw the audience in.
But by the time Ledger exits stage left and is replaced by Messrs Depp, Law and Farrell, most audiences will be marvelling at the prospect of seeing these stars curiously taking on Ledger's role, rather than the drama they are trying to portray. The fact is that there is very little drama, and even Gilliam's animated flights of fancy are less than impressively digitally rendered.
On the way out of the cinema a young man asked his girlfriend what she made of it all. 'I wouldn't want to see it again' she said. I expect it will be a common reaction.
Paul Hurley
