Just watched Flash Gordon (1980): The costumes +1, the Red Spandex +1, Timothy Dalton and his laser-crossbow +1, Richard O’Brien (5 years after Rocky Horror but 1 year before Shock Treatment) +1, “Leave us alone, I just got engaged” +1, Queen soundtrack +1, Queen singing “Flash…” every time Flash does something heroic -1, Princess Aura’s heavy Italian accent -1, knowing what Darth Vader would have looked like if his mask moved when he talked and what his death could have looked like +1, look it’s the Mandarin in Iron Man 3! No wait that’s Ming: a Swede playing an Asian -1, the ships +1, the sets (more real looking than anything in Star Wars Episodes 1-3) +1, the Flying Monkeys, I mean Hawkmen (better than Smallville’s season 10 Hawkman) +1, Spray-painted graffiti in dungeon “Long Live Flash” -1, best wedding vows ever +1, Hawkmen formation -1: 6 points. Look out for TenPointReview.com coming soon!
Originally posted on Facebook on March 26, 2013
Flash Gordon is what I call a “Berford Theatre” movie, as in it was one of the ones I saw in my youth at the local movie theatre in my town, before the video stores opened up on main street and quickly put paid to the movie palace (hardly, by the end of it’s life you couldn’t sit in some seats when it rained because the roof was leaking so badly).
Anyway, I only remember two things from this movie. i) the Queen song, obviously and ii) SPOILER….. Ming impaled at the end, and the goo he leaves behind on the spike.
FLASH! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!