Flash Gordon (1980 UK)

Based on one of the oldest sci-fi comic strips, begun by artist Alex Raymond way back in 1934, the titular hero was in the classical hero mold, a blonde-haired athlete who wound up in adventures on another world ruled by the emperor Ming the Merciless. There were famous but very cheap serials made based on this strip starting in 1936, but this one - this concept - is more suited to color pictures, and well-budgeted ones. This film actually follows the plot of the original strip - Ming (Max von Sydow) is bored and pelts the Earth with a variety of natural disasters (stock footage so early in the film does not bode well). We first see Flash (Sam J. Jones) sitting in his car on a small airstrip, as the latest bad weather, hot hail, hits; he doesn't look too worried. He meets the pretty Dale Ardon (Melody Anderson) as they embark on a trip in a single engine airplane. Due to Ming's continued manipulation of the weather, they soon crashland at the scientific lab of Dr. Zarkov (Topol).

Zarkov, though a scientific genius, also comes off as a bit crazed; he intends to journey to the source of all the bad weather in his own rocket, but Flash & Dale are alarmed at his spastic attitude and only go along due to a scuffle which accidentally activates the rocketship. It's after this point that the audience begins to see the visuals which this film is known for. The ship travels into a swirling mass of reddish miasma in space resembling an ocean rather than deep space and then more fantastical scenery resembling volcanic activity (and called "The Sea of Fire" in the film). Finally, they break through to the alien landscape of the planet Mongo, whereupon we see the magnificent city-palace of Ming. The trio are swiftly captured and brought to the court of the emperor.


If you thought the film was colorful until now, then you'll really be wowed by the colors and set design of Ming's court. Red continues to be the color of choice - for the costumes, the sets, everything. It's not simply garish, however - it's a triumph of over-the-top splendor and opulence, especially evident on DVD-or-better picture (that's the only way to view this film; many of the pictures in this post are from VHS-level quality sources and do not do the film justice). Some of the later visuals, such as sky effects, dip into surreal animation. The film also takes on the semblance of a fevered dream - Flash even states this outloud to Dale after they're imprisoned - as if Zarkov's ship crashed on Earth and this is all a delusion of one of the trio (probably Zarkov) in the last moments before death. It helps to view the film in this context; otherwise, it comes across as too bizarre and silly: Flash, for example, reverts to his prowess at football in Ming's court to deal with Ming's guards. This goes a bit overboard in showing off his particular skills.

During this early scene in Ming's court, we are introduced to the other major characters of the film and Ming's world: the winged Prince Vultan (Brian Blessed in probably the most entertaining performance), Prince Barin (Timothy Dalton), Klytus, Ming's chief enforcer with the metallic face (Peter Wyngarde) and Ming's daughter, Princess Aura (Ornella Muti). All of these are competent actors and, unfortunately, they show actor Jones in a bad light - he is, by comparison, stiff and amateurish where they are all relaxed and professional. Even the notion that this should be viewed as some strange dream is not enough to mitigate Jones and his line delivery. His flat delivery sort of fits in with that notion, yes, but I still can't help but wince every time he speaks. He was apparently dubbed over by some other actor for many of his scenes and this probably makes matters worse. There's a lot of corn in the dialog, mostly in the hero's case, but there are also moments of lucidity: Ming explains that his decision to destroy Earth is based on Zarkov's detection that these were not natural disasters; hence, Earth poses a threat to Ming's empire in this equation.
In the plot, Flash is quickly scheduled for execution in Mongo's version of the gas chamber but he is revived under orders from Aura (suggesting that he is brought back from the dead), who is of course attracted to him, in a schoolgirl sort of way. Zarkov, meanwhile, is supposed to get his brain reprogrammed while Dale is to be Ming's sex slave. It's established that there are various moon kingdoms ruled by princes, but they are all under Ming's sway. Flash ends up in Barin's arboreal moon kingdom and Barin has issues with him mostly over Aura. Later, they all end up in Vultan's Sky City; Vultan thinks it's too soon for a revolt and he has issues with both Barin and Flash. One problem with this set up, for me, is that these princes seem only a bit less sadistic than Ming, so it's like the lesser of two evils. However, it's mostly tongue-in-cheek, so I can't take it very seriously. One surprise during all this is that Dale reveals herself to be almost as effective a kick-ass hero as Flash, even though she usually speaks like some love struck damsel in distress and she only enters this action mode in one scene. Anyway, it's no surprise that the final act involves everyone teaming up against Ming's forces.
The film is entertaining, no doubt, though it's geared mostly towards the early teen to pre-teen crowd. The few villains do meet somewhat grisly ends, though a couple of these death scenes also take their cue from The Wizard of Oz i.e. the demise of the wicked witch. For my part, I was usually distracted by the colorful sets and scenery - the arboreal moon with its huge tree trunks and swamps, the spiffy Sky City, the stark surface of the rocky Mongo and the retro futuristic rocketships. Another distraction was the music score by Queen - it doesn't really fit, though you'll probably run that song in your head over & over after watching this and that thump-thump tempo which usually begins an action sequence admittedly adds to the juvenile thrills and tension.  BoG's Score: 7 out of 10


Flash Trivia: actor Jones played himself in the comedy-fantasy Ted (2012) because the main characters in that film were his greatest fans.

Wikipedia wrote:According to a 2012 interview in Maxim, Sam J. Jones had disagreements of some sort with De Laurentiis and departed prior to post-production, which resulted in a substantial proportion of his dialogue being dubbed by a professional voice actor, whose identity is still a mystery. A sequel was proposed, but the departure of Jones effectively ended any such prospects. The airfield scene at the beginning of the film, although set in the U.S., was shot at the Broadford Airfield in Skye, Scotland.