Warlords of Atlantis (1978)

Pretty Good

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Viewers know what to expect from a 1970s film with Doug McClure in it, adequate acting, dodgy special effects, unconvincing monsters and a leading lady not too shy about displaying her ample boosom. It is for all of these reasons that I love his films, none will ever win an Oscar but if Oscars were awarded purely for the entertainment derived from watching a film then Doug's mantelpiece would have been groaning under the weight of gold statuettes. The story lines are always "inventive" and a bit ridiculous, there is usually a supporting actor in each of his films who went on to become more successful than poor Doug doomed to be an eternal "B" movie actor. I loved his films back in the 70s and I still love them now, brilliant all of them.

The crew of the 'Texas Rose' sail into an area notorious for the disappearance of a number of ships to trial a deep sea chamber, ostensibly in search of rare antiquities. McClure and Gilmore pilot the underwater vessel, while learned professor Donald Bisset remains above at the mercy of the crooked crew, helmed by the concerned Shane Rimmer, looking to capitalise on any valuable discoveries. But when a giant octopus grabs the crew and descends into a deep sea ravine, they soon find themselves in the mythical land of Atlantis, where the hosts are into mind control and slavery to preserve the sinking cities. With the help of a grizzled old captive (Brown) and his hot daughter (Brodie), they attempt a bold escape from the clutches of the warlords, and to return to the surface of the earth.Reasonable action sci-fi adventure features a capable (and eclectic cast) in which the affable McClure and introverted Gilmore combat the likes of Michael Gothard (who played a key villain in "For Your Eyes Only"), Daniel Massey, and in a surprise piece of casting, the eternally beautiful Cyd Charisse as a sorceress who tries to persuade Gilmore to join their race as a means to harness his superior intellect. Future "Cheers" star Ratzenberger also has a prominent supporting role. Great sets, music and monsters conceived by genre veteran Brian Hayles who wrote many "Doctor Who" novels, there's even an unexpected dual climax and twist ending guaranteed to entertain. Made at a time when the "Atlantis" theme was being revisited (e.g. "Man from Atlantis", "Island of the Fishmen"), it's suitable for almost all ages and while not likely to qualify as a companion in the sci-fi order, "Warlords" remains an entertaining edition of its ilk.

If I had seen this movie when I came out, or when I was young, I'm sure I would think of it fondly. Going in cold as an adult in the summer of 2009, I wasn't really entertained much.The arguments for this movie seem to be that 1) It is just an entertaining fantasy not to be taken seriously; 2) The creatures were done before CGI and are therefore more more soulful 3) Anyone who doesn't enjoy the visuals should appreciate this movie for its well-written characters and interesting plot that has so much more to offer than the trash coming out of Hollywood today. I could dispute each of these, but the bottom line is that I DID enjoy several moments in this movie, and it kept me mostly interested all the way through. I just didn't care much about it overall.I would describe the quality of the story as being on par with some of the weaker episodes of the original Star Trek series. My favorite part was the giant octopus, but it was a little underwhelming after having seen what Gore Verbinski was able to do with the Kraken in the second POTC movie. Sorry, but sometimes technical advancements can make a better film, in the right hands. I prefer a CGI creature that movies with economy over a puppet monster that just stands in one place and roars.But that isn't a reason not to watch this movie. I'm sure many fans of b-movie sci-fi and adventure would find this perfectly enjoyable. For me, it isn't any one specific thing, I just was unsatisfied with the movie as a whole.

!!!!! MILD SPOILERS !!!!! In my review of AT THE EARTH'S core I said that the best of these Doug McClure gets attacked by rubber monsters in a 1970s British movie was THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT . If this holds true - And it's been years since I saw that movie - then WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS is certainly the second best in the genre Written by former DOCTOR WHO script writer Brian Hayles the story has some imagination even though no one is going to confuse it with a documentary . An eclectic ship's crew is abducted by a giant octopus and taken to the ancient city of Atlantis which is ruled by an alien civilisation which is engaged in a war of attrition against giant rubber monsters . One of the abductees Professor Aitken is wanted by the aliens for his superior intellect while the others will be used as slaves . It also turns out the abductees must be converted into gill breathers within a few days if they are to survive their new environment . Naturally upon hearing this the ships crew don't want to stay in their new home An entertaining enough story and unlike AT THE EARTHS CORE the production values are fairly good since location filming involving oceans and caves are used . There is the old bug bear of actors standing in front of obvious back projection trying to look scared at a rubber glove pocket but that's not enough to ruin the movie , in fact that adds some charm and the script has the temerity to point out that mankind's greatest achievements have come out of fighting one another in terrible wars . There are one or two plot holes like why do the aliens consider Professor Aitken a man of superior intellect since he would have no understanding of space travel or Einstiens theory of relativity , in other words he's a cave man compared to the aliens . You also can't help but notice that when the characters escape Atlantis Delphine the female lead has been rather superfluous to the plot But these minor flaws are never enough to totally ruin the movie for a discerning audience and I have noticed how many comments on this page centre around " I saw this when I was a kid and I'd love to see it again so please bring it out on DVD " It's probably nowhere as good as you remember it from 20 years ago but it still remains a fairly entertaining movie