Warlords of Atlantis

• aka Warlords of the Deep
• Directed by Kevin Connor
• May 5, 1978 (UK)

A scientist and his engineer sidekick find the lost world of Atlantis. British ingenuity and that can-do American spirit!

There’s a certain charm inherent in ‘70s adventure offerings of this type. Somehow they always bring out the kid in me when I see one. Doug McClure was the star of the adventure genre. I am not the first to observe he fought numerous monsters in uncharted worlds. It was with great excitement I watched Warlords of Atlantis.

The movie makes great use of miniatures and matte paintings to sell locations or monsters. Far from the quality of its cinematic contemporary Star Wars but in a cheesy way that an appreciative viewer will forgive which adds to the charm of a presentation meant more to be an inconsequential adventure.

What exactly are the ‘warlords of Atlantis’? As a film it is inappropriately titled. I’m not sure what it should have been called but these people really are not warlords-at least at this stage. Maybe in the future of this story they will be. I don’t know.

The Atlanteans are space aliens that somehow influence mankind to do things with the power of their minds. These aliens have stranded on Earth apparently for a few thousand years (or who knows how long) and have been slowly and methodically guiding the technological development of man so they can get the power to leave. I guess their cities are spaceships or something. I have no idea. Honestly Warlords is a little bit of a mess. Once you’re sucked into the goofy fun there’s just enough explanation to get you to the end credits.

Long-term plans of the Atlanteans or whatever they are make no sense. Are these people immortal? If they can influence people why are they taking thousands of years to do so? I understand it is not possible to go from the caves to nuclear power overnight but literally eons? If they have that amount of time, why are they not doing some more of the heavy lifting to accelerate the process. Or if they have unlimited time, then all of it themselves?

Greg Collinson (Doug McClure) is some type of engineer hired by father and son duo Professor Aitken and his son Charles (Donald Bisset and Peter Gilmore respectively) who are some type of scientist going on some type of diving expedition based on some type of information hinting at Atlantis? Not sure how they figured out where to dive but they use a very primitive diving bell to bring up a large golden statue outside of an underwater entrance to Atlantis. Why is that statue there? For the purpose of plot it gives the crew a reason to linger in the area but makes no sense.

This is heavy on action and short on logic. Obviously our cast of characters get captured. While being escorted through the outer city, Collinson sees the obligatory hot chick in the form of Delphine (Lea Brodie) who is the daughter of Briggs (Robert Brown) and tries to help her carry some buckets. She warns him away because helping with buckets is bad (?) and he immediately starts a fight with a few guards for no reason. It’s to show the viewer how manly he was but it is another thing that makes no sense.

Part of the Atlantean plan requires them converting Charles to their side. Somehow he’ll be a bridge between them and the human world. In however long they’ve been capturing people they never stumbled across someone with his intellect. Not exactly sure how the brain of an archaeologist or historian will help but whatever.

And how exactly do the gills that everybody has attached trap them underground? It helps them breathe the atmosphere though the unaltered crew of the ship are just fine but can they not breathe air normally? And where does that romance between Delphine and Collinson begin. Was she so enamored with his pointless violence that love blossomed?

Characters of the boat Texas Rose are captured by a giant squid and brought to the underwater city that necessitated a diving bell to get near. How did these unprotected people survive the crushing pressures and inability to breathe air?

In this story the Atlanteans have been kidnapping people from the surface to fend off random attacks from creatures called Zaargs. No joke. No weapons before they got stuck? This movie is a kitbash of random ideas with things just kind of happen amongst barely dressed sets and unimaginative and vaguely crafted costumes. I have no idea exactly when this movie takes place though the diving bell does give a vague point in history. Events are telegraphed because a statement of concern over what could happen is made just before it happens.

This has more in common with adventure serials than thoughtful fiction. It touches the kid in you (not in a weird way) with a mismatched pair of pals fighting evil. They irritate each other but, in the end, have one another’s back. Maybe they don’t even know exactly why but they do. That almost ‘bros before hoes’ attitude with a dose of fun violence in a retro science environment makes this great superficial entertainment.

With a questionable title yet a sense of fun, Warlords of Atlantis is an entertaining time. It’s trash but nice trash. Can’t say I recommend it though because you must have a certain attitude when you go in.