The Films of Mike Hodges

Get Carter

Pulp

The Terminal Man

Flash Gordon (August 21/12)

Inspired by a 1930s comic strip, Flash Gordon follows Sam J. Jones' title character, a successful football player, as he, a travel journalist (Melody Anderson's Dale Arden), and a mad scientist (Topol's Hans Zarkov) are sent spiraling into a vortex that lands them on a planet called Mongo - with the film detailing the trio's ongoing efforts at defeating Mongo's power-hungry leader Ming the Merciless (Max von Sydow). It's certainly not difficult to see why Flash Gordon has become a cult sensation in the decades since its 1980 release, as the movie boasts (or suffers from, depending on one's perspective) an unapologetically over-the-top sensibility that's reflected in, among other things, its garish sets, broad performances, and laughable plot developments. (In terms of the latter, there's a remarkably stupid sequence in which Flash defeats a group of goons by employing a series of football maneuvers.) Jones' charismatic yet woefully inadequate performance plays a key role in the movie's downfall (ie there's no clear figure for the viewer to wholeheartedly root for), while von Sydow's scenery-chewing turn as the villainous Ming inevitably progresses from amusing to grating. The film's problems are exacerbated by a seriously dull (and aggressively episodic) midsection in which the various characters are separated, and it does, especially during this stretch, become impossible to ignore the film's blatant similarities to the (obviously) superior Star Wars - which ultimately cements Flash Gordon's place as a terminally underwhelming sci-fi epic that may keep small children amused, admittedly, but will leave adults bored to tears.