The legend of the Minotaur originated in antiquity when first related by the great storyteller Homer. Now in modern times several movies have been created and I've seen five. From among them all, this is the very best. The director is Jonathan English, with writers nick green and Stephan McDool. The tale is retold here and it tells of a peoples who lined the Mediterranean and fell under the tyrannical power of King Minos, who was cursed When he offended the Gods and who in return was punished by them. He had asked for a son, but was instead given one who fed on Human flesh. Each year, the king sent his warships throughout the land and forced his vassals to give him tribute in the form of young boys and young girls to be fed to his son the Minotaur. However, Theseus, the half-son of Zues volunteered to be among the victims and offers himself to the group to be sacrificed. Unlike others stories where the King's daughter fell in love with the heroic youth, this version is flagrantly dark and there is much violence, blood and gore to satisfy action oriented audiences. The film is more violent than others, but it's necessary to meet the requirements of advance theater goers. The star of this film is handsome, Tom Hardy who plays Theo or Thesus. Tony Todd is Deucalion the tyrant king who plays it to the hilt. Other cast members include Lex Shrapnel, Jonathan Readwin and Rutger Hauer as Cyrnan. There is a great deal of violence as I said, but it goes hand in hand with fiery, dark caverns, the amazing Minotaur and especially the explosive finally. Take it from me, this version will become a Classic and thus I recommend it enthusiastically to one and all. ****

The movie attempts to tell "a" true story of what inspired the ancient myth of Theseus and the minotaur. This version isn't bad at all. Strengths go to story, acting and directing. Obviously, this movie is made with an abysmal budget, but Tom Hardy is able to keep it floating above average, along with Rutger Hauer and some other decent actors. The story is logical enough, and the conclusion smarter than expected. The special effects are poor. They take you constantly out of the movie, and the acting is a bit inconsistent. While the prisoners running for survival in the labyrinth are quite good, Tony Todd hams it up overacting as a high priest, still entertaining though.I expected nothing when starting the movie, and got nothing meaningful out of it, except for a little thrill by watching a CGI monster chase hapless victims, who fortunately fight back to give us a good show. I have seen much worse movies with fancier and more expensive special effects.

Welcome to the CITIZEN KANE of Sci-Fi Channel movies. Not that MINOTAUR is faultless. It's just competent on so many more levels than your average Sci Fi-Schlock Fest that it appears great in comparison.We have some actual acting going on. Granted, there is some great scenery chewing, but it's on a grand scale. There are some good effects. There are some epic looking landscapes and the occasional set. And the script and direction are actually acceptable.On the down side, there's the same CGI overkill that seems to haunt every Sci Fi monster flick. Thankfully, this is kept to a minimum. We're also stuck in the same labyrinth/cave sets for way too long. And every so often I couldn't help feeling that plot points were being cribbed from a Terry Jones film.But these are minor quibbles. There's some attempt here to breathe life into the monster on the loose genre. Not bad at all.

If this were the 80's this movie would've been released directly to video. Now it should be DVD. If you have too much time and you're into b-movies, than you might like this. Although if you really have too much time, why not watching a good movie instead? We all have different tastes, so some people might actually like this. But the majority won't and the(ir) reasons will be the following ones: bad acting, bad script and not really the highest production values. Of course the latter is understandable, it's a low budget movie. There is nothing really good about this movie and even a Tony Todd can't save it. But since I have seen worse pictures (at least you can see they're trying here and my b-movie fable might also play a role), I gave it 3 stars!