Mjeteconer Just perfect...

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

rooprect Geez, I think my title summed up everything that needs to be said. "Flash Gordon" has all the sci-fi and action as "Star Wars" but blended with an unapologetic campiness and comic bookishness like the iconic 60s Batman series. Throw into the mix, um, QUEEN doing the soundtrack, and you've got yourself an experience that will never happen again.You might be thinking the blend I just described is as ill-advised as putting pineapple on pizza (seriously does anyone really like that?), but actually the blend is perfect if we take a quick look at the decade that this film wraps up, the 70s. The 70s was the decade of the rock opera: The Who's "Tommy", the doo-wopper "Grease", Motown's "The Wiz", the punkish "Rocky Horror" and bunches of others that swept the box office. While "Flash Gordon" isn't a musical, as defined by characters breaking out into song & dance, the vibe of the movie spells rock opera with a capital Rock. In plain terms this means a very tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top, theatrical and colorful spectacle that is not to be taken as a straightforward drama. If you can grasp that concept, I guarantee you'll love this flick.The plot? Who cares. Something about saving the universe, I'm sure. But it doesn't matter because, like a good roller coaster ride, or like a good adventurous vacation, we don't care how it's mapped out. We just get a thrill out of each individual twist & turn, each scene, each surprise, and all the while we're taking mental notes of all the horribly awesome lines we can quote to our friends and annoy them for months afterwards.A serious note about the acting. This production drew the talents of some of the finest actors of stage & screen, and for them to be able to play such campy characters is a testament to their true expertise. I'm talking dramatic & Shakespearean legends like Brian Blessed, Max von Sydow, Timothy Dalton, not to mention the incomparable personality of Topol (Fiddler on the Roof) and the show-stealing, sexually repressed Ornella Muti as the Emperor's daughter--whose mere presence would've kicked the MPAA rating from PG to PG-13 if that designation had existed back then. Even if you don't recognize any of these people, you'll find each one of them to be unforgettable."Flash Gordon" is a film that has no equal. You could say it's a distant cousin to 1968's "Barbarella" (another wtf experience that shouldn't be missed), but really it's beyond compare. So hurry up and see this movie ...you only have 14 hours to save the earth!

Leofwine_draca As cheesy comic book romps go, this takes some beating. Based on the original comic strip series - images of which are shown over the title credits - this is a film that was dated even when it was first released. The years have lent it a certain nostalgic charm and there's no doubt that it's enjoyable when you're in the right silly mood. There's also the appeal of watching some respectable actors taking part in the chaos that ensues on screen.Bad movie fans will have a field day with this one. The plot is simplistic in the extreme, not to mention contrived, and the film merely seems like a STAR WARS rip-off. The special effects are also very cheap looking, being a mixture of that bad early '80s computer effect and some very dodgy matte work. A hilarious score by Queen serves to date the film even further. Still, at least they try and throw in a bit of everything here; there's plenty of action, from gun fights to fist fights, there's some whipping, romance, glamour (the girls all get to wear shiny bikinis), drama, male bonding, and even a rubbery monster in there too.Sam Jones stars as the square-jawed American hero, and to be brutally honest, he's awful - a really poor actor. I've never seen anybody so wooden. He does have an endearing puppy-dog quality to him though. Melody Anderson is the annoying bubbly heroine who makes stupid remarks like "Flash! Flash! I love you, but we only have 14 hours to save the Earth!". Topol actually comes off pretty well playing an intelligent scientist and doesn't have to embarrass himself too much. On the other hand, Brian Blessed should be crying tears of shame if he watches himself flying about with papier mache wings. Timothy Dalton also pops up to lend some much-needed charisma, while Max Von Sydow goes over the top as the sinister comic book villain. There are also cameos from British celebrities like Robbie Coltrane and Richard O'Brien.One of my favourite scenes in this film, which I've always remembered since seeing it as a child, is the huge exciting fight scene on a tilting circular platform complete with pop-up spikes. This culminates in a Darth Vader-wannabe robo-guy getting brutally spiked. It's a lot of fun. While some bits are excruciatingly embarrassing, like the sad squad of flying bird-men, most of this is fun in a bad way and a couple of bits are surprisingly well-handled. There are plenty of in-jokes to spot and the whole thing is colourful, garish to look at. Besides, how can you hate a film which has evil henchmen who wear red gas masks? FLASH GORDON is the epitome of cheesy '80s fun and should be viewed as such.

Koenig-2 There is no denying that this movie is quite bad in many respects. Some of the actors are not very good, the whole plot is laughable, the characters are predictable and naive, and the whole style is way too glittery and Italian for this to have any taste at all.But strangely enough, this also works in its favour. The whole thing feels like a naive and glittery pulp cartoon from the 30ies, glamorous, adventurous, and often with little substance - and therefore quite fitting in its own way, regarding that Flash Gordon actually WAS all this.Still, the whole movie would still not be half as entertaining without the wonderful Queen score. Flashy, shallow, naive, glamorous and hero-worshiping - I bet those guys enjoyed themselves immensely with this!

marynjenkins I remember seeing this movie a long time ago, and thought that Ornella Muti had the most beautiful eyes in the world. A bit like the Italian version of Sharon Stone, with her mystique elegance, and her cat eyes. Somehow this movie, even though it seeming a bit corny and outdated in today's computerized universe, it still seems to stand its own. In its day, this movie was the party film of the 1980's Rock scene, which has its own place in everybody's heart, that remembers those days of the crazy colorful 80's. With the classic wonderful music by Queen, and the powerful voice of Freddie Mercury, this film will always remain as one of those 1980's classic.