Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
3/4
"Flash Gordon" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 01/20/2012
Pro football star Flash Gordon and his travelling companion are kidnapped by a mad scientist during his attempt to foil an attack on Earth by a malevolent intergalactic dictator. Star Wars meets Barbarella in this high camp space opera based upon the comic strip and Saturday morning serial of the 1940s. Flash Gordon will never be celebrated for its subtlety or sophistication, but what it is, is fun with a capital F! The plot is breathlessly episodic, the dialogue cheesy as hell and Sam Jones' performance as Flash is so wooden the crew probably had to spray him for termites. But the fact is, all of these seemingly bad elements come together to make something great! The true joy of the film is in the performances, particularly Max Von Sydow's disdainful and aloof Ming (the first line of …
Rating of
3/4
Campy sci-fi fun
The M.O.W. - wrote on 08/01/2008
New York Jets star quarterback "Flash Gordon" (Sam J. Jones) and "Dale Arden" (Melody Anderson, in her motion picture debut) are kidnapped by "Dr. Hans Zarkov" (Topol) when the plane they are passangers on crash lands near his home/observatory. The three rocket to a planet known as "Mongo," which is lead by a blood-thirsty dictator named "Ming" (Max von Sydow), who is responsible for sending the Earth's moon out of its orbit and send it crashing into the planet which it orbits.
On "Mongo," the three cross paths with the planet's various inhabitants which are forced to pay homage to "Ming" or be killed. Some of the aliens are willing to help "Gordon" overthrow the dictator, while others will not out of fear of retaliation if the plans fail.
The story itself is well written, but …
