Flash Gordon

(Mike Hodges/1980/USA)

One of my earliest cinematic memories is going to see this film with my cousin Rob, 50p admission of a Sunday afternoon in the old Regina Cinema on Patrick St in Waterford. After the initial slightly scary (to a 1980’s six year old) Dr Zarkov and the stormy rocket launch and kidnap scene it’s straight into a cavalcade of colour and pomp. It’s all high octane camp and capers. If you watch the old 1930’s TV series of Flash Gordon the costumes and style of this film aren’t that far off but the jokey, playing it for laughs script could be mistaken for sniggering. Then again when you are reducing a serialised adventure story to 90 minutes there has to be some flexibility in narrative and style. This version of Flash Gordon maintains a good balance of irreverence and genuine action adventure and to my six year old brain it was epic. Everything from baddies with eye popping death scenes to Flash on the sky bike with a thumping, building theme tune from Queen - it had me entranced and thrilled. Maybe it’s rose tinted glasses but I still think it’s a great film that takes the stageyness of the TV series with the adventure and thrills of the comic and produces a big budget b-movie of sorts. It’s a science fiction mutant that would rather hang out backstage with the phantom of the opera than in Jabba’s Palace on Tatooine. You might think while watching it that you probably shouldn’t like it as much as you do but it’s too much fun not to. And Brian Blessed is a delight as Prince Vultan of the Hawkmen.

(3.5/5)