No matter how you slice it, the plot of Mike Hodges' Flash Gordon comes off as ridiculous and inconceivable (please tell me you read this in Wallace Shawn’s voice). Flash Gordon (Sam J. Jones) is a young and wildly popular football star who finds himself in unprecedented waters as he, and his newly made acquaintances, Dale Arden (Melody Anderson) and Dr. Hans Zarkov (Topol), are accidentally taken to the mysterious planet of Mongo. Mongo’s tyrannical leader, Ming (Max von Sydow), proves to be a worthy adversary of the young prodigy as the two face off in a battle of epic proportions as Flash attempts to save planet Earth.
The acting in this film was truly laughable. Considering the fact that Jones had never starred in a film before, it could be expected that his ability to portray such a silly character in a compelling way would lack to some degree. While most of the acting was subpar, he was by far the biggest perpetrator and made nearly every scene in which he was present difficult to take seriously. Inadequate acting aside, most of what takes place throughout the film is a sci-fi buff’s dream. New worlds, new species and a series of unusual events propel a story of love and treason.
As everything came together to create this epic tale of treason, it became clear that special effects and CGI were what was needed to efficiently draw in audiences and keep them hooked throughout. While the CGI pales in comparison to contemporaries such as George Lucas’ Star War: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) and Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979), it appeared that what Starling Films was able to produce, in terms of special effects, was, at the very least, sufficient. The art department and the visual effects department made sure that each scene was vibrant and full of life; not one scene fell short of this.
Even with Jones’ inability to act at the time, the film was a lot of fun, and it was the visuals that allowed it to be this way.
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