FLASH GORDON (1980)
Tagline: Pathetic earthlings... Who can save you now?
(Action, Adventure, The New York Jets Quarterback) [PG]
Gordon's alive?
So back when I was a kid, this damn movie came on like, 100
times a day on cable. Because of that, I have seen this movie more times than
any other movie (although SUCKER PUNCH, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA and others are
catching up). This one is about a football hero Flash Gordon, (played by Sam J.
Jones who is still acting to this day) who gets trapped on a rocket ship with Dale
Arden (played by Melody Anderson who was also on the show “Manimal”). The dude
that traps them is Dr. Hans Zarkov and his mission is to just freakin hurl him
and 2 passengers into the void hoping to reach out in “friendship”. What a
freakin moron. Anyway – they land on a planet called Mongo and find themselves
in the middle of merging animosity against the kind and loving Ming The
Merciless (played by Max Von Sydow). I mean, this dude throws massive parties,
he lets you give him stuff, and he lets you shoot lasers and blast loud music. What
could be nicer than that?
No, actually Ming is a “psycho” and this movie is pretty
damn “psycho”. That’s probably why I loved it. Approaching this thing just aesthetically
alone, it's pretty mind-blowing. Crazy over-the-top costumes, space lizards,
hawk men, bark creatures that will freakin kill you, and outer space where apparently
“air”, is just totally breathable, yes…count me in. The acting in this thing is surprisingly good
given the outrageous almost blinding sets which had to have been distracting. There
are some oddities in the script one of which is an odd exchange between the
movie's seductress Princess Aura (Ornella Muti), Prince Barin (Timothy Dalton), and Dr. Hans Zarkov (played by Topol), but outside of that, even that is pretty
fun.
Just some advice for watching this movie, you do have to leave your sensibilities at home, as well as any feverish love of science and physics. In fact, just do this for all movies and you will enjoy them a lot more. When I was a kid FLASH GORDON was the “perfect” movie. It’s honestly hard to believe this thing only made $27 Million at the box office.
As an adult, I see its flaws and still don’t think there is enough to complain here about to give this thing any less than a 7 out of 7. It’s a gutsy once-in-a-lifetime cinematic gem.
Just some advice for watching this movie, you do have to leave your sensibilities at home, as well as any feverish love of science and physics. In fact, just do this for all movies and you will enjoy them a lot more. When I was a kid FLASH GORDON was the “perfect” movie. It’s honestly hard to believe this thing only made $27 Million at the box office.
As an adult, I see its flaws and still don’t think there is enough to complain here about to give this thing any less than a 7 out of 7. It’s a gutsy once-in-a-lifetime cinematic gem.
GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF STARLING FILMS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.
Comments
Post a Comment