DVD Reviews

Flash Gordon – Blu-ray Review

By Patrick Luce Jun 25, 2010, 16:43 GMT

Alex Raymond’s famous comic strip blasts to life in the action-packed sci-fi adventure Flash Gordon. When energy waves pull the moon out of orbit, New York Jets quarterback Flash Gordon (Sam J. Jones) unwittingly finds himself heading for the planet Mongo, where—with assistance from beautiful Dale Arden (Melody Anderson)—he’ll take on Ming the Merciless (Max von Sydow) and rescue humankind. Featuring spectacular thrills, out-of-this-world special effects and unforgettable music by ...more

Flash Gordon comes to Blu-ray to save everyone of us, and looks incredible on the 1080p format. It is still just as cheesy as it was in 1980, but that is part of the fun of the movie.

Based on the comic strip by Alex Raymond, Flash Gordon was directed by Mike Hodges (1971's Get Carter) with a screenplay from Lorenzo Semple Jr. (1976’s King Kong) based on an adaptation from Michael Allin. Although the film is filled with color, special effects, and the brilliant acting of Max von Sydow's as the villain Ming the Merciless, Flash Gordon is probably best remembered for its rocking soundtrack by Queen.

It is one of the rare times that when you mention the movie’s title the first thing you think of is its soundtrack. The band was a perfect fit for the space adventure, and the soundtrack sets the pace for the story in the opening seconds of the movie. Flash Gordon has always been a favorite film of my family and you cannot mention the title in my house without someone singing “ah-ahh! Savior of the Universe!"

Even with the great soundtrack, the film would be a drag to sit through without the help of its cast which included Sydow, Sam J. Jones as Flash Gordon; Melody Anderson as Dale Arden; the legendary Topol as Dr. Hans Zarkov; Ornella Muti as Princess Aura; Timothy Dalton as Prince Barin; Brian Blessed as Prince Vultan; and Peter Wyngarde as Klytus.
 
The film opens up with a voice-over of Ming and Klytus (the emperor ‘s advisor) discussing how Ming was bored and wanted something to play with – which leads Klytus to recommend destroying Earth for the fun of it. We are then rocketed through the film’s opening credits set to Queen’s music and featuring art from the Flash Gordon comics.

The movie then heads to Earth and introduces us to our hero (we know he is our hero because he is wearing a white shirt with FLASH written in big red letters), and his potential love interest Dale Arden. The two flirt friendly before their plane crashes due to Ming’s toying with Earth’s weather.

Luckily for Flash and Dale, they crash right next to the science lab of Dr. Hans Zarkov – the one scientist who has figured out that the Earth is under attack from beyond our known galaxy and also just happens to have a rocket ship that is programed to fly to the source of the attack.
Zarkov gets Flash and Dale into the rocket ship with the old “the phone is located in the rocket” trick and our trio quickly blasts off into space. Zarkov knows there is only a limited time to save Earth, and when they land on Ming’s planet he is hopeful he can appeal to Ming’s gentle side by showing the Earth is no threat.

Unfortunately, Zarkov missed the memo that Ming doesn’t have a gentle side and (as Flash so elegantly puts it) is a complete psycho. Our heroes are introduced to Ming, Klytus and Ming’s nympho daughter Aura in grand style and it doesn’t take long for Ming to decide he wants to marry Dale (he even promises to commit to her for the moment).

Flash being the gallant hero tells Ming to forget it because Dale is with him, and we get the equivalent of a bar fight or football game in space with Flash taking on Ming’s soldiers while all of Ming’s subjects watch and cheer.

It seems none of the princes are smart enough to put aside their differences to work together to overthrow Ming and instead give him tributes to avoid being impaled on their own swords or worse having Klytus talk down to them in front of all the other subjects.

Flash is condemned to die for his attempt at stopping Ming from marrying Dale, Zarkov is sentenced to be brainwashed and put to work, and poor Dale is taken to get ready for her royal wedding – which includes a mixture of being pampered and drugged.

Luckily, Aura still has a thing for Flash and saves him from the gas chamber. She then takes him to Prince Barin’s world for safe keeping – even though Barin is in love with her and supposedly engaged to marry her. I guess nothing shows true love like your fiancée showing up with a guy she wants to take to bed for you to hide from her father.

Barin shows he is a true friend by setting up Flash to die (he figures if Flash begs for his death then Aura won’t be upset when she returns to find him dead), but his plans are put on hold when Vultan’s men take Barin and Flash captive.

On Vultan’s kingdom (a sort of city in the clouds), our heroes are reunited, Flash and Barin become allies (after they try to kill each other of course) and Flash finally convinces everyone to get along to overthrow Ming.

Ming recaptures Dale, and we finally get to an epic showdown between Flash and the armies of good against Ming and his bad guys. This battle is truly epic thanks to the pounding guitars and drums of Queen – which help you getting into the battle despite some less than stellar special effects.

Flash Gordon’s plot is pretty straight forward, and it doesn’t take much effort to keep up with what is happening on screen. It is basically the hero trying to save the day and get the girl. The movie is fun to watch thanks to the “ham” acting from its cast – you have to love how much effort Topol, Dalton, Sydow and Blessed put into their characters despite the cartoony feel of the film.

If the film really struggles at all, it is in the limited acting abilities of Sam Jones. This was his first big movie, and he just doesn’t seem quite at ease as the other screen vets. Of course, his limited abilities actually don’t hurt his character since Flash is supposed to be just a football superstar (he has shirts with his own name printed on them so he must be really famous) and not the planet’s greatest hero.

Regardless of what you think of the acting, Flash Gordon is not a film you can really judge critically or fault it for any of its shortcomings (yes the special effects are limited and the plot is very cookie cutter). The film is simply supposed to be a fun time and on that level it succeeds.

It is fun to watch from the opening credits to the final cackle of Ming as his ring starts to glow. Much of this is thanks to Queen’s music, but credit also goes to the actors who treat the film as if it is a serious space epic instead of a campy entertainment.

On Blu-ray, this film looks incredible with a level of detail it has never had before now. The colors of Ming’s world pop and the film sounds truly epic. The format does hurt the limited special effects a tad, but that just adds to the entertainment. Flash Gordon is not Star Wars or Lord of the Rings so you know what you are getting when you hit play.

The Blu-ray comes with decent special features, but they are pretty much just carried over from the 2007 DVD release of the film. I was also disappointed that the Blu-ray didn’t include an isolated soundtrack for the film. I liked that it did include the first episode from the 1936 Flash Gordon serial.

If you are a fan of Flash Gordon or have never seen the movie, the Blu-ray edition is the way to view this classic. It may not be the best science-fiction film ever to grace the silver screen, but it is a lot of fun to watch – especially if it is with your whole family singing along to Queen.

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