This new review is for a film that looks like a rip off of Mad Max, but is actually one of the most fun, yet incredibly flawed films i've ever seen. From the director of the controversial yet hauntingly beautiful Cannibal Holocaust, Ruggero Deodato, I give you action extravaganza, The Raiders Of Atlantis. Check out my review after the jump....
Anyone familiar with
Italian exploitation and horror cinema will know the name Ruggero
Deodato, in fact one of his films was reviewed by Richard Long a few
weeks ago (Phantom Of Death), but he's probably best known for his
film Cannibal Holocaust, cited as the most banned film of all time
and one of the most controversial films ever made, however, he's also
a pretty good action director, maybe not as good as Enzo G.Castellari
(Keoma/Inglorious Bastards) but he's still pretty good. Instead of
the animal cruelty and epic gore-athon's that people usually
associate Deodato with, The Raiders Of Atlantis aka Atlantis
Interceptors aka I Predatori Di Atlantide (original Italian
Title), is a fairly bloodless
film save for a decapitation and some other minor graphic moments
towards the end, this is quite a departure for Deodato and it somehow
works.
The
plot of Raiders Of Atlantis follows Mike Ross, a sort of merc and his
partner Mohammed/Washington (we're really not told what his name is),
they've just finished a job for a man called the Colonel (who we
never see again) so Ross and Washington fuel up Ross's boat and head
off to a tropical island to retire and live the good life. Mean
while, out in the Atlantic ocean, an offshore rig, staffed by
scientists are trying to raise a sunken Russian nuclear sub with the
help of sexy scientist Dr. Cathy Collins who has been brought there
to decipher so ancient hieroglyphs on recently discovered stone,
during the raising of the sub they inadvertently end up raising not
only the sub but also the lost city of Atlantis. This accidental
rising of Atlantis causes a massive tidal wave which pretty much
obliterates the ocean rig and the people on it. After the wave has
died down, Mike Ross, Washington and they're deck hand Manuel, pick
up a few of the survivors, Dr. Cathy Collins, Prof. Peter Saunders,
Chopper pilot Bill Cook and some other assorted technicians. They
make they're way to land where they discover that Manuel is a
descendent of the Atlantians and that they're all going to die. He
dives off the boat and re-appears spouting the same old nonsense as
he did on the boat, but that's about 15 minutes late. On dry land,
Mike and the survivors discover that the island has been destroyed
by the returning Atlantians, led by a dude who wears a crystal skull
helmet, he's sort of this films Lord Humongous from The Road Warrior
but all skinny and looks like a dentist. Anyway the Atlantians are
all apoca-punks, (this is an 80s Mad Max rip off, of course they all
look like this) and they drive around in souped up customised
motorbikes and convertibles as if there was a West Coast Customs on
Atlantis preparing all these vehicles in anticipation for their
return. After some Assault On Precinct 13 style siege scenes, Cathy
gets kidnapped by the Atlantians and the survivors find a chopper and
make their way to Atlantis to rescue her.
T'is
a silly film, but a wholly enjoyable slice of fun thanks to some good
action scenes and a great lead in Christopher Connelly, who's like a
middle aged Rambo. He's got some great lines and delivers a pretty
good performance. The same can't be said for Gioia Scola who plays
Dr. Cathy Collins who is clearly dubbed but due to the god awful
dubbing, there's no way to actually tell if Scola is giving a good or
bad performance. Tony King who plays Washington is also quite good,
he's like Mike Ross's Man Friday and his additional muscle. The rest
of the cast do what they can but it's Connelly who reigns supreme as
the bad ass middle aged action master.
For
a film made on a small budget, it contains a lot of great action
scenes, the siege against the warehouse and the bar are pretty good
and there's a great scene of a guy dropping from a helicopter onto
the roof of a moving bus, there's a lot of gunfire too which is
always a blessing. Action fans should lap this up, but if it's
sophistication you're looking for, stay the hell away from this, it's
fast paced, hugely flawed, and I mean hugely flawed, badly dubbed and
a mess editing wise with continuity issues aplenty, but it's all part
of the charm and charisma of the film. It's a shame that it's not
readily available in a remastered edition as the version I saw was a
VHS rip, albeit a pretty good VHS rip, in one of those big 50 Movie
Boxsets from Mill Creek (R1 DVD ) but this film need to be unleashed
on the public so people can lap up the awesomeness of it.
In
many ways it's kind of like a companion piece to Castellari's
awesome, and very well made, The Bronx Warriors, which for me is the
best of the early 80s Italian Mad Max rip offs, but if you get a
chance to check this out, Action fans will not be disappointed. Is it
Deodato's best work? No fucking way, Cannibal Holocaust, for all it's
graphic scenes of violence, mutilation and animal cruelty is a
brilliantly crafted and hauntingly beautiful film, The Raiders Of
Atlantis, although incredibly awesome, is bad, but because it's so
bad it becomes epically good and I enjoyed every single minute of it.
For that alone it gets 4 stars.
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