Flash Gordon (1980)
What a blast to re-visit this one......maybe one of very few comic book movies that perfectly replicates the color-drenched eye popping splendor of actual comic books.
International movie mogul Dino DiLaurentis assembled a crazy mixture of British and Italian talents to assemble this cotton candy colored space opera......and the resulting film, came across as bombastic Grand Opera with its tongue firmly planted in cheek.....
The sly, self mockery came about courtesy of veteran screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr., who's already proven himself as the reigning master of both popcorn pulp and ultra-hip thrillers (The "Batman" TV series, "Three Days of the Condor", "The Parallel View" , the 1976 'King Kong').
The breathtaking gorgeous look of the film came from production designer Danilo Donati, who'd worked similar wonders for Fellini. Donati's mind blowing costumes and sets defy any rational description from us......you simply have to gaze upon them yourselves.
We love how 'Flash' stood apart from the new generation of sci-fi action adventures ushered in George Lucas. Lucas, Spielberg and their many imitators wanted us to believe fully in their world building.....the "Flash Gordon" filmmakers invited us to step into their dream world and immerse ourselves in it with eyes widened like toddlers at a planetarium.
Some MVP's worth mentioning.....Max von Sydow as Emperor Ming the Merciless, British treasure Brian Blessed as the Falstaffian Prince Vulcan of the winged warriors, Timothy Dalton as swashbuckling Prince Barin (trying out the pissed off moodiness he'd later use in his two outings as James Bond), oddball cult actor Peter Wyngarde depending only on his lethal mellow voice since his villain Klytus is literally a metalhead from the neck up, and the stunning Ornelia Muti, inter-galactically sexy as Ming's duplicitous daughter Princess Aura.
(We should feel grateful that any scenes where Princess Aura was tortured by the dreaded 'Boreworms' were left out of the film.....no doubt the worms were later sent to earth where they feasted on RFK Jr.'s brain......)
Pure dumb fun all the way, a sight to behold and propelled by a Queen theme song.....what more could we ask for?
4 stars (****).
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