The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is known as the final work of Heath Ledger, regrettably it will be remembered for little else. Doctor Parnassus is a an immortal with powers to control individuals imaginations, who seems to be constantly making wagers with the devil, and upon making one such bet, befriends Tony (Heath Ledger) who tries to help him win this time. This film is as bizarre as my synopsis suggests, not that this is the problem, the problem is that Terry Gilliam constantly over indulges in the bizarreness and losses sight of his narrative. This is a shame because somewhere beneath this abstract drivel I think there was a charming, unique, modern day fairy tale, but this film was lost due to an over reliance on just being odd and a week screenplay that gave the actors little to work with. Heath Ledgers untimely demise added an interesting aspect to the movie, in that he was replaced at points by Jonny Depp, Judd Law and Colin Farrell. I feared this would be an unwanted distraction, however the physical change does make sense in regards to the narrative and Depp and Farrell actually were the best things in the film. This was an unfitting final movie for Ledger, and will not be remembered as fondly as films made in similar circumstances such as The Crow or Giant.
Score: 2/5
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