Diamhea Ingenuity can often salvage these shoestring budget Sci-Fi Channel-esque numbers, and the inclusion of Corman in the production should have given Cyclops more of a chance, but perhaps it was little more than a tacked-on selling point, as this is a monumental misstep that looks like it belongs eight to ten years before when it was released, and that's not even enough of a handicap to salvage these effects.The 2008 release date is shocking, as the CGI has that clear mid '90s quality to it, with the namesake creature featuring a rubbery, gelatinous physique that changes in size drastically to fit the scene. The cyclops clashes with the environment he is dropped into, feeling so artificial that you can't suspend your disbelief to even accept that he is interacting with the rest of the actors (despite the incessant use of cutaways and other camera tricks to obfuscate). The endless roaring and groaning makes the creature a bigger annoyance than a threat, and that is saying something, as he racks up a ridiculous body count, oftentimes due to the solders' propensity to take one swing at the monster, then stand there and wait for he cue from the director to react to the movements of the CGI.The gore is excessive and tasteless, much like the first Bloodrayne film. It doesn't fit the tone of the picture, and serves to only lower the bar, as it isn't even entertaining in a visceral way, being over-reliant on CGI as opposed to corporeal fare. Save for Eric Roberts phoning it in, most of the bigger roles are capable at the absolute best. The cheapness of the production is felt all around, like the glaringly obvious ADR jobs, usually followed by the character's mouth moving afterward (speaking the line that was originally there). A particularly cheap moment comes when the Cyclops is wheeled in on a cart, hidden under a tarp. A few children come up to peek inside, and the fact that they are being directed by someone standing inside the cart is impossible to hide as they emote stiffly, like "Should I scream now?" The lack of competent acting ability is almost laughable, to say nothing of the anachronistic nature of the flick. This is so pervasive that it isn't worth singling out individual moments, but safe to say "Barbara" was not a common woman's name during the time period in Rome. The film also tries to piggyback on Gladiator, with the typical three-way struggle between the emperor, a high ranking officer and a weasely adviser type (who serves the dual role of Quintus here). But to me, the most infuriating thing about Cyclops was the sheer incompetence of the supposedly trained professional soldiers. They are quick to fire arrows at their own comrades, stand and wait to be killed, and make otherwise insane decisions. Cyclops simply follows no line of logical reasoning, and feels exactly like what it is: A quick re-purposing of sets and costumes from a different production, with a script slapped together to contain as many clichés as possible, replete with an awful CGI abomination shoehorned in. A disgrace.

Adam Foidart 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)

groverton I bought this with a bunch of other Sci-Fi movies that Anchor Bay had released under the "Alternate Realities" line-up. I initially thought this was a cheesy 80's movie which closely resembled Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans. Much to my disappointment this movie was more recent and from the opening scene my hopes for some good ol sci-fi cheese reminiscent of the 80s were quickly dashed.The costumes seemed too bright thrown together. I felt as if at any moment I would look down and see one of them wearing sneakers. The actors throughout the film seemed out of place and much too "modern" as it were. The first characters we come across just seem to not be properly prepped for their rolls.. where was the makeup department on that one?I didn't believe any of the actors portrayals in any of their rolls. Eric Roberts was just awful.. It felt like he checked out before filming ever began. Stapleton's character Marcus wasn't much better. Although he seemed to get progressively less crappy as the movie went on I can't say I was able to believe his role whatsoever. Mike Straub who played Gordian was by far the best throughout the film. He seemed to be the only actor taking his role seriously. The soldiers of Rome were pitiful as well. There weren't enough of them so their attempt at a Phalanx (the shield maneuver like in 300) fell short. They all looked like random kids they pulled off the street and once again it felt as if none of them played their roles with any kind of serious intention.The visual effects were atrocious. For a movie that was made in 2008 the lacklustre CGI quality is quite disheartening. I have worked on a few low budget films and the CGI weren't astounding but the CGI in this film makes the projects I've worked on look like Avatar! For a movie like this that did have some production value (supposedly) you think they would strive to make it look a lot better than they did. Epic failure across the board in the CGI department. This movie def. screams Cheese! Unfortunately it's not the good kind of cheesy that you enjoy watching again and laughing at, no it's the kind of cheesy that you are just happy to be done with once the movie has ended. I would feel embarrassed to have my name associated with this movie in any form. had a little more time, planning and research into the story been done I'm sure they would have had at least something that they wouldn't spend the rest of their lives trying to forget was ever made.

Ray Humphries Plot spoiler. Plot pits good vs. evil. Good wins.What's with Eric Roberts? There can't be any money in making junk like this. That was Lord Oliver's excuse for making junk that was hugely better than this. Does ER perceive it as irony? Maybe he just drinks.For the most part I thought Kevin Stapleton did a decent job. He's not Russell Crowe, but this isn't "Gladiator," either. I can't say much for either of the female characters. Usually the Sci Fi Channel junk has a couple of youthful cuties, hotties, even. Not so here. Frida Show (or Farrell as the case may be) is neither cute nor hot and though this is the "break-out" role for Tania Kozhuharova, she isn't either.The CGI sux. It was abominable. So was the plot.Someone said the sets came from the TV version of "Spartacus." Maybe they did, but my high school gym had more seats than the so-called Coliseum. The original structure seated over 80,000. Also, construction on this edifice began in 70 AD. Tiberius died in 37 AD. And it's fair to say that Rome did not revert to a Republic upon Tiberius' death, whether he had his head removed by a CGI beastie, or no. There is no Science Fiction involved here, just fiction.