Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Sadly Over-hyped

Charming and brutal

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

In an ancient time and place ("Minotaur" was filmed on location in Luxembourg, both interiors and exteriors), people that tended towards "hedonism and greed" needed a god that was somehow more tangible, one of flesh. So they contrived one by impregnating their Queen, who gives birth to this thing. Naturally, things get way out of control, and soon a regular requirement of sacrifices of the young comes about to keep the beast in check. One young man, Theo (Tom Hardy of "Layer Cake", "RocknRolla", "Bronson", and "Inception", etc.) is led to believe that a lost love of his, a past sacrifice to this thing, is still alive so he agrees to take on the challenge of determining if the Minotaur is really so much of a "god" and can actually be killed. Normally, when we watch stuff like this, we expect a lot of silliness and a lot of cheese and know not to take it terribly seriously. "Minotaur", however, which is inspired by Greek mythology, does go out of its way, for a while, to keep these elements at bay and deliver a somber, moody, foreboding kind of tale - and it works pretty well. Granted, before too long, the mostly inane characters cease to maintain any sort of interest and it becomes tedious watching these people get picked off. The actors who come off the best are Tony Todd (not surprisingly), who's magnetic as usual even if there's a definite feel of Candyman to his performance, and the absolutely luscious Michelle Van Der Water as the sister to Todd's character (one fun kinky touch is that Todd loves her more than as just a sibling, which doesn't exactly sit well with her), who's tired of the senseless deaths and tries to defy him. The actors playing the would be victims don't have enough to work with to register very strongly, but there is the attraction of seeing some veterans in the form of Rutger Hauer (whose disappearance from the story is rather disappointing) and the legendary, sultry Ingrid Pitt, who's actually unrecognizable, buried under heavy makeup, as the cave dwelling Leper. The creature gets a reveal sooner than this viewer would have liked, but it's reasonably impressive - big, bad, and ugly, and done with both digital and practical effects. There's some nastiness for gore hounds, although a lack of real detail (there's too much stuff taking place off screen, for one thing) will likely leave them less than satisfied. Not exactly that good, but not all that bad either; it may amuse the genre fan who doesn't demand too much from what they watch. Six out of 10.

I watched it on TV tonight, and I must say I watched it till the end, which is pretty rare for me when it comes to watching special-effects movies on TV (since I watch most 'good' SE movies in the theater).I didn't even mean to watch it, but I zapped passed it just when it started and bascily thats what kept me interested; the atmosphere, lighting etc was interesting. It starts of rather slow in my opinion, but it picks up speed half way through. I think the title is a bit misleading since it doesn't involve the real minotaur, but a creature that people in the movie believe it is the minotaur. It's entertaining, surely not a top movie but still they managed to make it interesting using the various characters. The effects are OK for a movie with this budget, I never thought it was too fake. Some stuff did bother me, as example, the gas; He can smell the gas when he sticks his head in the hole. In the end he managed to light it, and it suddenly blows through the whole labyrinth, up to the pitholes in the palace. I am no chemist, but it doesn't make much sense why it would do that. The fire would just follow the gasstream, not create a massive stream on its own. If the gas was already streaming so badly, no one would be able to live in the palace.Another thing that make me think, since the minotaur was actually just some strange monstrous bull, how could they been feeding it for centuries, or at least more than a human lifetime? Age affects every living being, even hideous bulls.Other than that, it was entertaining, the casting was well done, the girls pretty, dialogs were OK, and effects pretty good for a lower budget movie.

Ah, Minotaur... saw this movie in my TV-guide on a lazy Saturday night. The review that came with it wasn't that good, but I had nothing better to do. So I just gave it a go.Surprisingly, the story kept me entertained for the whole 90 minutes. Tony Todd was a real treat and you could see the actors were really trying to make something out of it. Sure, it's a B-movie and sure, it's going straight to DVD. But if you just watch it without too many expectations and without caring too much about plot holes, you'll have an entertaining night.Special effects weren't that good, but the ancient atmosphere and camera work made up for that. Unfortunately, the Minotaur himself was too robotic for my taste. That took a little bit of the magic away.Conclusion: Minotaur is a very approachable myth/monster movie that you can just pick up in the video store, or watch whenever it comes on TV. It's a fun way to spend a lazy Saturday night :).

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.