The Atlantis Interceptors (1983)

Sometimes you start watching a film with no expectations whatsoever, but find yourself being blown away by its sheer audacity, energy, inventiveness and sheer lunacy.  The Atlantis Interceptors, (or Raiders of Atlantis, if you saw it in the US, or even Predators of Atlantis, to give a literal translation of the Italian title), is one such film.  A science fiction action movie crossover, Rugero Deodato's film throws together disparate elements which really shouldn't go together, yet melds them into a curiously satisfying whole.  In fact, it could be argued that Atlantis Interceptors is an attempt by the director to blend together the highlights from several of his favourite films: there are the wild gang of thugs with bizarre hair styles and customised bikes and cars from the Mad Max franchise, a nocturnal siege reminiscent of Assault on Precinct 13, the evil Atlanteans of Warlords of Atlantis, some jungle sequences reminiscent of Deodato's own Cannibal Holocaust and a misplaced Soviet submarine straight out of Spy Who Loved Me.  In this respect, it is a perfect example of the Italian exploitation film technique - steal from other popular genre movies and forge this material into something distinctly Italian.  Atlantis Interceptors.is possibly the finest example of this technique.

The film opens like a standard Italian action movie of the era, with a pair of Vietnam vets turned freelance troubleshooters, Mike (Christopher Connolly) and Washington (Tony King), carrying out a kidnapping on a Caribbean island, on behalf of the shadowy representative (whose face they never see) of some kind of equally shadowy agency.  Job done, they head off by speed boat for a holiday.  Meanwhile. a former associate of theirs, Bill (Ivan Rassimov), a helicopter pilot, is ferrying an archeologist, Dr Cathy Rollins (Gioia Scola) to a nearby drilling rig.  The rig, as Professor Saunders (George Hilton) explains, is actually a cover for an attempt to raise a sunken Soviet nuclear submarine.  During the operation, however, a tablet covered in strange hieroglyphics has been recovered from the sea bed - hence Rollins' presence.  As the sub is raised, something goes wrong, the rig is destroyed by a powerful disturbance on the ocean bed and Mike and Washington's boat runs aground on a hitherto uncharted land mass.  They decide to head back to the island they had come from, picking up survivors from the rig, including Bill, Rollins and Saunders along the way.  Once back they find the local town deserted and ravaged, most of the residents dead, before encountering the cause: the Atlantis Interceptors, a gang of savage road warriors led by a man in a crystal mask.

Rollins and Saunders determine that radiation leaking from the warheads on the sub somehow caused the sunken continent of Atlantis to rise again - the Atlanteans have reawakened and are now determined to reclaim the earth, with the Interceptors as their vanguard.  After Rollins is kidnapped by the Interceptors, Mike, Washington and the others run the gauntlet of the road warriors to get to Atlantis - the uncharted land mass they had earlier run aground on - rescue the scientist and put paid to the Atlanteans' plans.  The Russian sub is found washed up on the shores of Atlantis and Saunders defuses the warheads, while the others seek the Atlantean's citadel - which involves mowing down every Interceptor who gets in their way.

Such a bare bones synopsis can never really do the film justice.  Deodato's slick direction moves it all along at a fantastic pace, with the well staged action rarely letting up and the switch from straight action to science fiction doesn't feel jarring: somehow, the barking mad plot seems to flow quite naturally.  Moreover, for a cheaply made pot boiler, it looks remarkably good, with decent production values and glossy look.  Deodato is aided in this by the use of Philippines locations, pretending to be the Caribbean - Imelda Marcos herself apparently had a hand in securing the film makers full access to resources in the Philippines, allowing the film to look more expensive than it actually is.  Even the effects work is above average for an Italian production of the era, with some quite passable model work - the beached submarine, for instance, is surprisingly well done.  Oliver Onions also provides a thumping score which accompanies the action perfectly.  Much of the dialogue, even in dubbed English translation is remarkably witty - Washington's attempts to convince everyone, especially Mike, that he is serious about converting to Islam and that they should call him Mohammed, becomes a neat running gag throughout the film.  The script also gleefully indulges in all the cliches of this type of action film - just about everybody the two main characters meet  are there simply to impart some vital information before being killed in some bizarre and horrible fashion, for instance.

Best of all are the performances of the cast.  Christopher Connolly, (who many of us remember as Ryan O'Neal's brother in the Peyton Place TV series, not to mention being the original St John Hawke in Airwolf), is a definite cut above the kind of down on their luck US actors usually found playing the lead in Italian action films.  He delivers a perfectly pitched performance which never quite topples over into parody, yet is never too serious.  His on screen partnership with King is excellent, the two characters bouncing off each other to good effect.  Italian action veterans Rassimov and Hilton , who ten years earlier would have been the leads in this sort of film, are clearly enjoying themselves in supporting roles, Scola is beautiful and a more than adequate female lead, who actually plays a crucial role in the film's denouement.

To be sure, there are plenty of criticisms which can be leveled at The Atlantis Interceptors.  The script is undoubtedly confusing in places, providing no real explanation for some of the plot developments.  Most glaringly, the presence of the Interceptors themselves is never fully explained - the fact that 'Crystal Skull' appears to be some kind of suited businessman pre-Atlants rising, who keeps the skull mask in his safe, implies that they are the descendants of Atlanteans stuck above the waves, awaiting some signal that the continent has re-emerged.  But this is never made explicit.  Nor is it explained where they got their vehicles or weapons from in such a short period of time, let alone who cut their hair for them.  The mechanism for the rising of Atlantis is also vague, involving leaking radiation from the submarine.  The climax is also somewhat overly mystical and feels rushed.  But none of this really matters.  Indeed, it is one of the film's strengths that it doesn't waste time on too much complicated exposition - instead it just gets on with the action, with the sheer pace of the film carrying the viewer's suspension of belief along with it.  Sure, when the film is over, you start pondering all the plot holes, but while it is on, yiu just don't have time - it is so relentless in its pace.

All in all, The Atlantis Interceptors provides ninety minutes or so of hugely entertaining action.  It is far superior to equivalent US studio produced action pictures of the same era, packing in more action and incident.  If you never watch any other Italian action film, then watch The Atlantis Interceptors - it steals from the best to provide an exhilarating and unpretentious viewing experience.