As Good As It Gets

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

I first saw director Kevin Connor's silly monster movie Warlords of Atlantis at the cinema in 1978, and although I was only 10 at the time, I still came away very disappointed; the problem was that I, along with most of the rest of the world, had not long witnessed the cinematic marvel that was Star Wars, which had set a new standard for special effects driven adventures, and Connor's brand of fantasy film-making now seemed very primitive by comparison.The narrative structure to Warlords is almost virtually identical to Connor's previous three fantasy adventures, The Land that Time Forgot, The People That Time Forgot and At The Earth's Core: a scientific expedition discovers a lost civilisation (in this case, Atlantis) and encounters a variety of badly realised rubber monsters, after which the adventurers barely escape with their lives. It's also very similar in terms of production values and technical prowess: the performances are hammy, the script makes very little sense, and the special effects are diabolical.These days, however, it's those very qualities that make this kind of flick so much more fun to watch now than back in the day. The camp nature of the script, Doug McClure's paunch, the unconvincing hand puppet creatures, the giant plastic octopus with uncontrollable tentacles, the awful Atlantean fashion, flying piranhas launched clumsily at the actors by crew members off-screen: what I found embarrassingly bad as a child I now find rather charming in its ineptitude.

Some blokes arrive in the sunken land of Atlantis, partly by accident, partly by design, and encounter despots and monsters. Shenanigans ensue.Coming out of the spasm of activity whereby Doug McClure was the action-man protagonist in a number of similar British fantasy movies, this is not vastly different to the others. An adequate plot serves as a satisfactory row of hooks on which to hang a series of action sequences involving "special effects" of a type which was all we had at the time. And like the other films, the monsters are men in monster costumes, filmed in slow motion on miniature sets, which was a bit lame even then. There is one bit where a monster eats someone, and it is quite clear the considerable effort everyone has to go to in order to get out of the way and almost help the fellow into the monster's jaws. Nitrogen narcosis doesn't exist in journeying to and from this undersea realm, and octopuses have menacing roars. That sort of thing.For all that, it is good natured and barrels along amiably enough. And Cyd Charisse, aged 57, shows that she still has a pretty good pair of pins.

Searching for treasures, a scientific, his son (Peter Gilmore) and Greg Collinson (Doug McClure) are double-crossed by their crew (John Ratzenberger: Cheers, among others).When they're into a diving bell are attacked by a sea monster and the sailors are dragged by a giant octopus. The ship-wrecked crew find inhabitants of the lost world of Atlantis, the lost continent written by Platon. It's ruled by an alien race(Michael Gothard,Daniel Massey and Cyd Charisse) from Mars which wish to rule the human beings and the creation a totalitarian state.This fantasy picture packs thrills, action, weird monsters, lively pace and fantastic scenarios. The monsters are the real stars of this production and its chief attribute. The tale is silly and laughable but the effects and action are quite well. Among the most spectacular of its visuals there are a deeply shrouded caverns full of monsters roaring menacingly towards the camera, the attack of a giant lizard on a fortress, and the futuristic backgrounds of Atlantis . Some illogical parts in the argument are more than compensated for the excitement provided by Roger Dicken's monsters, though sometimes are a little bit cheesy. Filmed in glimmer cinematography by Alan Hume on location in Malta and in Pinewood studios , England. Colorful and stirring musical score by Vickers. This is the fourth collaboration between producer John Dark and director Kevin Connor who also made in similar style : ¨The land that time forgot(1975)¨, ¨All the Earth's core(76)¨, ¨The people that time forgot(77)¨mostly starred by Doug McClure and with Dicken as the monster-maker. The film will appeal to kids who swallow whole and sit convulsed in their armchair.

Well if i had money for fun i would produce and direct a remake of this film. I have such great ideas, for both this film and at the earth's core. Somebody remake these films or give me the money to do it. I loved these films with the superbly cool Doug Mcclure. I remember as a 10 year old (1987) writing a letter to Doug McClure asking what new monster films he would be starring in but sadly he never did and you also had to appreciate Kevin Connor was the guy behind them as Doug was the Main Actor. Yes my childhood was full of anything with Dinosaur type monsters in, The land that time forget, at the earth's core, the people that time forgot, Warlords or atlantis were my favourites. I also liked Harryhausens stop motion movies too and both have more character than cgi has today. I would however use CGI in the remakes if i could make them, but they would have to be mint and the creature would have to have character too.