Up front I'll say I enjoyed this movie, rated it a 6, but I'm glad I never forked out money to see it at a cinema.
One of the biggest bombs of all time, the reasons why seem obvious.
- The art design is really uninspired. If they wanted to go all retro, and this movie does look very 70s, you'll need to do more than work with a palette of blue, green and browns, all de saturated. Flash Gordon was made for only 20 million but was a riot of colour.
- Why spend 300 million on a film and have two principles who have never carried a major successful film in their own right? Yes they are supported by some well known journeyman actors but Strong, Hinds and West are not A listers.
- The SFX aren't very good at all.
- The dialog is clunky and poorly delivered and the acting is flat and uninspired. The only actor who earnt his paycheck imo is James Purefoy and his part is small.
- The story is pretty lame. This sort of adventure might have been wonderful a century ago but it doesn't work as 'straight' storytelling today. Flash Gordon went for laughs. This movie takes itself too seriously.
If that all sounds like I'm down on the film: I'm not. Just throwing some reasons out there why it bombed. Given that this is the first comment on the boards for a movie that is now 10 years, it seems like there isn't even enough interest to hate it.
Reply by Jacinto Cupboard
on March 30, 2022 at 9:10 PM
I'm not sure a nude Ciarán Hinds would have been much of a draw.
And the female lead is one of those actors who looks gorgeous from some angles and decidedly frumpish in others. Some actors are just like that and it isn't their fault. Jodie Comer is another actor who can look like a supermodel one minute and the disappointing blind date the next. I shouldn't have to mention this at all but for the fact that the depiction is sexualised and so we are obliged to say whether it works or not. And it doesn't. Wouldn't have mattered is she were naked.
She is btw the only woman in the film, apart from a few extras with momentary screen time. So nearly all the nudity you were hoping for would have been men. Which might have made it a cult favourite for gay men. Not perhaps the intended demographic.