Atlantis Interceptors, aka Raiders of Atlantis
Despite the title, THE ATLANTIS INTERCEPTORS is not about an arena league football team but is a two fisted action flick from Ruggero (CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST) Deodato. Back in the eighties it seems these things used to thrive at the mom and pop video stores before Blockbuster came to town. It's one of the post ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK/ THE ROAD WARRIOR knockoffs but it moves so quickly with a "why the fuck not?" attitude that you don't really care. Christopher Connelly, who resembles a Ryan O'Neil-Ben Murphy hybrid, plays Mike and Tony King is Washington, his partner, who now prefers to be called Mohammed due to his recent Muslim conversion. They're a couple of mercenaries and as the film begins, they are pulling a hit job for a mysterious client. They then head out in a boat out to the Caribbean for some R & R. In the meantime, a recent attempt to raise a sunken Russian submarine has unearthed a ancient tablet, believed to be Atlantean. A sexy archeologist woman is summoned to an offshore rig to decipher the tablet. But a mysterious storm and tidal wave sink the platform just as Mike and Washington arrive. An island enclosed in what appears to be a transparent shell has arisen from the sea as the platform survivors, including the sexy archeologist and a professor, are taken aboard Mike's boat. Needless to say, the effect of the island rising is less than spectacular but Deodato doesn't give a fuck. It works, so fuck it. The boat lands on a Carribean island, only to discover everyone has been slaughtered and strewn about or so they think. They discover some survivors of the massacre hiding out from the people they call "the Interceptors". The Interceptors look a lot like the people from Manhatten Island in ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, but maybe with a little more MTV influence. Remember the Billy Idol video for "Dancing with Myself"? They look like that .Some ride tricked out cars, some choppers. Their leader is the Crystal Skull, so named because he wears a crystal skull helmet. He gives orders like "Humongus" from THE ROAD WARRIOR while waving his cane. Mostly shit about reclaiming Atlantis and all the donuts, killing and so forth. Mike, Washington and company have some gunfights with the Interceptors, some are killed but Mike does his best. Both Connelly and King are great in their roles, they really go all in. The music is straight up John Carpenter mish mash and the action scenes are done with real enthusiasm. There's a pretty good low tech biker decapitation scene that'll crack you up. The professor gives a really goofy explanation about the sunken Russian sub's radiation causing the remains of Atlantis to rise and it's surviving inhabitants wanting to reclaim the world as theirs. The Interceptors kidnap the sexy lady archeologist because she can read the tablet and is needed to help Atlantis return to it's lost glory. After a pretty good helicopter chase and a shootout, Mike and company steal a copter and head to the risen island to rescue the girl. It doesn't make any sense but it's a lot of fun and the action scenes are pretty ambitious for this kind of budget.The island locales are great too. It really seems as if no one was there to tell Deodato it wasn't possible to pull off, what with the sunken island rising and non-stop action. It's paced a lot like an old Republic serial. A sequel with Mike and Washington would've been cool. The copy I saw came from "The Grindhouse Experience" collection which has clearly been made direct from a vhs tape. It's watchable but if you're a real hard ass about that sort of thing then you'll probably start whining. At which point you should be slapped. And don't miss the goofy pop song during the end credits.