Terry Gilliam directed The Zero Theorem, which tells you that it’s going to be visually arresting and Way Out There. Former Monty Python member Gilliam wrote and directed Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Von Munchausen and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus – all much better movies than The Zero Theorem (which he did not write).
The Zero Theorem takes place in a dystopian future world where the powers that be completely control everything that they need for the economy (what you do, how continually you work and how little you get paid), but allow individual freedom to consume crappy consumer goods and follow phony religions. Those that are too troubled to be productive are left to fend for themselves on the filthy streets, free of public services. It’s the realization of Antonin Scalia’s world view.
Christoph Waltz plays a poor workaday Everyman who just wants some time off to look after his deteriorating health. He’s literally a wage slave to a malevolent character named Management. A professional numbers cruncher, Waltz is attacking a very fundamental mathematical discovery. And that’s the whole movie – as he hacks away on his keyboard, he is battered and abused by The System, cajoled by an obnoxious middle manager (David Thewlis – very funny) and distracted by a sexually available temptress.
For what it’s worth, Waltz is pretty good as the protagonist, a perpetual victim. Matt Damon and Tilda Swinton show up in brief parts. Melanie Thierry, a very beautiful actress of limited range (see The Princess of Montpensier), plays the hottie.
All in all, it’s just not Far Out enough and the story – stretched to feature length – is tedious. You’re better off watching one of Gilliam’s good films, or Lost in La Mancha, the documentary on his snake-bitten attempt to make a movie out of Don Quixote.
The Zero Theorem releases tomorrow in theaters, but is already streaming on Amazon, iTunes, YouTube, Google Play and Xbox Video, among others, including your cable/satellite On Demand.