As far as low budget action adventure movies go, "Cyclops" actually isn't that bad. The effects are bad and the plot is nothing special but as far as these cheap "Asylum" monster movies, it' one of the better ones, at least on a technical level. The plot is nothing new. It concerns a Roman general that's betrayed by a sleazy politician (Eric Roberts from The Dark Knight) and finds himself stuck as a gladiator in the ring. It throws in the movie's titular monster too. Basically there's a Cyclops roaming the lands, the bad guy want it captured so they capture it and throw it in the gladiator ring. That's when our hero (Kevin Stapleton) meets it. Without giving away the ending that's pretty much everything you need to know.
The special effects (particularly when it comes to the Cyclops) aren't particularly convincing and in fact the decision to go with computer effects instead of practical is a pretty big mistake on the filmmakers' part. The Cyclops is, after all just a man with a few exaggerated features and a modified face so it seems odd that it wasn't prosthetics and trick photography used to create the creature. It's not like the Cyclops is that big either... we're getting side tracked so let's just say it's computer generate, and not convincingly either. As far as the story goes, it's pretty decent. It isn't really that original but taking a sort of familiar gladiator story and throwing in a big monster makes for some fun moments. The acting ranges from decent to pretty bad, with some characters simply delivering their lines pretty unenthusiastically to some people really under-reacting to being surprised and then killed by the Cyclops. The main characters do a fairly good job though, it's just the extras and secondary characters that will make you cringe. The fight scenes are actually pretty well choreographed and the costumes are convincing throughout. The gladiator battles actually get pretty exciting because you don't know how they are going to turn out and you can tell that it's actually people wielding some real weapons and they're edited competently so you can see what's going on. The sets are also well done and when the special effects call for some artificially created city skylines via computer effects, those are pretty good too. It is worth noting that when it comes to the amphitheatre the gladiator battles are set in the budget does show because it is far smaller than it should be, but it's nevertheless a minor flaw.
The bottom line comes to this: "Cyclops" is not a blockbuster or a movie that would impress the casual movie goer. Most people will see it and laugh or just dismiss it as total trash. Well, it kind of is trash, but it's competently made trash. If you're the kind of person that picks these direct-to-DVD or made-for-TV fantasy and horror movies and hopes they're good, this is actually one of the better ones. (On DVD, April, 2013)
The special effects (particularly when it comes to the Cyclops) aren't particularly convincing and in fact the decision to go with computer effects instead of practical is a pretty big mistake on the filmmakers' part. The Cyclops is, after all just a man with a few exaggerated features and a modified face so it seems odd that it wasn't prosthetics and trick photography used to create the creature. It's not like the Cyclops is that big either... we're getting side tracked so let's just say it's computer generate, and not convincingly either. As far as the story goes, it's pretty decent. It isn't really that original but taking a sort of familiar gladiator story and throwing in a big monster makes for some fun moments. The acting ranges from decent to pretty bad, with some characters simply delivering their lines pretty unenthusiastically to some people really under-reacting to being surprised and then killed by the Cyclops. The main characters do a fairly good job though, it's just the extras and secondary characters that will make you cringe. The fight scenes are actually pretty well choreographed and the costumes are convincing throughout. The gladiator battles actually get pretty exciting because you don't know how they are going to turn out and you can tell that it's actually people wielding some real weapons and they're edited competently so you can see what's going on. The sets are also well done and when the special effects call for some artificially created city skylines via computer effects, those are pretty good too. It is worth noting that when it comes to the amphitheatre the gladiator battles are set in the budget does show because it is far smaller than it should be, but it's nevertheless a minor flaw.
The bottom line comes to this: "Cyclops" is not a blockbuster or a movie that would impress the casual movie goer. Most people will see it and laugh or just dismiss it as total trash. Well, it kind of is trash, but it's competently made trash. If you're the kind of person that picks these direct-to-DVD or made-for-TV fantasy and horror movies and hopes they're good, this is actually one of the better ones. (On DVD, April, 2013)