Flash Gordon
by Mike Hodges
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VHS Tape Cover Information
Actor: Max von Sydow, Melody Anderson, Ornella Muti, Sam J. Jones, TopolDirector: Mike Hodges
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Color, Dolby, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Running Time: 111 minutes
Release Date: 1997-07-01
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Publisher: Universal Studios
Studio: Universal Studios
VHS Movie Reviews of Flash Gordon
Movie Review: Slaves of the Empire.
Summary: 5 Stars
Maybe I could have understood the movie better if I wasn't having so much fun watching it! Why are Sam and Dale stuck out in the universe instead of going back to earth? Well, I'd stay out in space if the alternative was the dreary, dust-ridden planet we get a glimpse of at the beginning of the film. The movie picks up steam and color as soon as Dr. Zharkov kidnaps our hero and heroine and whisks them off to save the planet, and especially when they reach the court of the fabulous Ming the Merciless. Ridiculed for its "camp" qualities when it came out, and for the inadequate and dubbed acting of Sam J. Jones as "Flash," FLASH GORDON in fact tells its story in a relatively straightforward manner, while Jones is unexpectedly winning in a difficult role; as soon as he remembers his football plays in a push against Ming's henchmen in reel two, he won my heart in that old fashioned Lil Abner Peter Palmer way. In some ways he's a fool, but no more than Jimmy Stewart was in the 30s and 40s movies FLASH harks back to. In the words of Queen's catchy theme song, "Flash! --Ahhh, ahhhh!"
Melody Anderson does what she can with a all-American girl shtick, but she comes closer to pure camp with her endless posturing about America and her defiance of danger. However, the role calls for her to show more complex emotions when she must give up Flash in order to save him, and she fulfills these scenes admirably, telling Aura, for example, that she can't poison Ming, for she has promised to be a good wife to him (in exchange for him sparing Flash's life). Keeping her promise turns out to be her Achilles' heel, and that one trait seemed quintessentially American, a naive belief in one's word for good or bad. She's like Sarah Palin, except her gowns are better.
As Ming, Max von Sydow does better work than in any of those Ingmar Bergman movies that made him famous. Tim Dalton takes his time in his slow evolution from evil to sidekick, and his portrayal gains strength from his early refusal to play for viewer sympathy. Like everyone else, I enjoyed Brian Blessed's hawkman, though at times he comes perilously close to enjoying himself more than anyone else. But hands down the movie belongs to Ornella Muti as Aura, she is smoking hot and just gets better and richer throughout the film until she attains actual cinema perfection in the last sequence of FLASH GORDON. You'd have to be Myron Breckinridge to adequately describe her genius in print.
Summary of Flash Gordon
When the totalitarian planet of Mongo decides on a whim to obliterate Earth, it's up to the lunk-headed quarterback Flash Gordon and his oddball companions to make the universe safe for democracy. Based on the classic (and infinitely more reputable) comic strip and its '30s screen serialization, this cotton-candy-colored trash classic deserves immortality for Queen's unforgettably pulsating soundtrack alone. The legendary Max von Sydow appears to be having a blast as the evil Ming the Merciless, while Ornella Muti, as his daughter, is the living embodiment of what attracts adolescent boys to comics in the first place. (She makes Barbarella look mundane.) One of the most shamelessly entertaining movies ever made, this is a knowingly absurd sensory freak-out that'll have the viewer blissfully checking the sky afterward for signs of Hawkmen. --Andrew WrightCult Movies VHS Video
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