Minotauro

I'm a real fun of mythology from wherever part of the world, Grece, Italy, Norway, etc, whatever kind of movie of this genre I see and I play PC-games too, such as Age of mythology or Titans. When "Minotaur" started, the woman's words at the beginning made me feel eager for a interesting movie, but minute by minute, that excitement was going down. I waited for something better, the effects didn't like me too much, especially when the beast was running, the plot was weak. I think that this kind of movie should have a good argument, may be from the real myth, and good special effects for being a nice film where you, furthermore you enjoy the movie, learn about Mythology. Really a so so movie.

If you ever find yourself in conversation with Tom Hardy at some cocktail party (one can dream), Minotaur is the film you bring up to both flabbergast and embarrass him, if only for your own amusement. It's one of those low budget sword & sorcery schlock-fests that the SyFy channel used to broadcast at two in the morning on sleepy Saturday nights, to serve as background noise for whatever hedonistic shenanigans are going on in the living room. It's Tom's first ever starring role, and therefore should never be forgotten, like those old camcorder tapes of kids learning to ride sans training wheels for the first time. The story borrows from the legend, adding its own lurid, t&a soaked flair that only SyFy can get just right. Tom plays the son of a Viking chieftain (a brief Rutger Hauer), who goes looking for his true love, one among a few of the village's youngsters who get kidnapped every year by a freaky pseudo African tribe of weirdos who sacrifice youths to the mythical Minotaur, residing in rocky catacombs beneath their city's surface. Led by supreme weirdo Deucalion (Candyman's Tony Todd, hamming up every scene), who fervently wants to impregnate his own hot sister (chill, dude), and oversees this theatrical occult ritual with obscene relish. This is one of those creature features where you barely see the beast for the first two thirds of the film, save for a quick snaggle of fur or fang rushing by in the shadows, and suspiciously looking like a bearskin rug cello taped to antlers and a hobby horse. Hardy does get an eventual confrontation with the Minotaur late in the game and deep in the maze, providing a few schlocky moments that are worth the ride, but it's silly stuff most of the time, scraping the bottom of a barrel that does lower than the maze of the bull. Totally tagging Tom in thee blog post though in hopes that he sees this and it brightens his day just a bit.

I lived on Crete for two years so I am familiar with the story of the Minotaur and the Labyrynth. They took that story and made some monster flick about how one dude (Tom Hardy from Layer Cake) found out his girlfriend was still alive in the maze and he set out to save her and the village. I do have to say I was most impressed with th Temple and the blood-drinking leader. I was even more impressed with Queen Raphaella - Michelle Van Der Water.

Was it a complete waste? No, the special effects were good, the monster was ghastly, and the action was what you would expect from a sci-fi film. Again, worth a look for Michelle Van Der Water.

Just Another Poorly Made TV Movie.

A combination of poor script, minimal SFX, and wild over-acting by Todd and company make this a pretty sad take on the well-known myth. Corn syrup blood spews and there's a lot of noise. That's about it.

I did derive a bit of pleasure from trying to sort out all the different influences on Todd's portrayal of the "psycho" potentate. It's Frank Booth ("Blue Velvet") meets Thulsa Doom ("Conan the Barbarian"), with a bit of Jabba the Hutt thrown in for good measure. Until you've seen someone taking a "hit" off a cattle skull, you haven't seen good cinema.

There's some vague hope that things will pick up, until the victims are tossed into the labyrinth. From that point forward, it's a complete waste of time...typical monster-in-a-cave fare. You could probably make a drinking game out of it, though...everyone slams a shot whenever a foam rubber rock moves.

Save your time and rent "Jason and the Golden Fleece" or some other film that is at least a little entertaining.

I watched this movie expecting to be disappointed and bored to tears, but I was actually quite entertained.

The writers use the legendary Minotaur to create a new mythology around the beast for this film. The monster is created by a people who worship the bull and wished to have a living god. Interestingly, they chose to make the Minotaur white, no doubt to give props to the original myth.

The plot is fairly predictable, but with enough surprises and suspenseful moments to keep it interesting. The characters stay true to being primitive, ancient people. They are simple and their reactions are less than logical, but many horror movies have been built on bad reactions to scary things. The characters lack depth, but I don't think it's inappropriate considering the nature of the film.

The Minotaur itself is well put together. The effects are simple, but not bad. As I was watching I wasn't thinking about how poorly done the effects were or how much better they could've been. In other words, the effects didn't detract from the film without being devoid of effects--a rare thing in movies of this caliber.

The movie begins with an overview of the mythology for the film and sets up the plot very quickly. The rest of the movie takes place in the labyrinth and the palace above it where we encounter bizarre hedonists in a brother/sister prince and princess combo.

The movie is not terrible, nor spectacular. All in all, it was a treat for me to see someone use the Minotaur in a film.