I admit it, I loved Hawk the Slayer, Ator the Invincible, Ator the fighting Eagle, Sword and Sorceress. Prisoners of the lost Universe. Warlords of Atlantis and At the Earth's core. Wonderful hokum. Shlock of the highest order. Murphy's Atlantis is of a similar fare but done with a small budget. Well compared to most of Mike's movies this looks big budget.
The plot is wonderful. Two people get dragged into Atlantis. The fabled lost city. Their fate is intertwined with the fate of Atlantis. When they get down there they find that the world is ruled by sadists. A queen, a princess, a vicious hench man and bizarrely an alien. As the plot progresses you get to find out about how they all interact. Their stories are fleshed out.
This is a sword and sandals epic made on a small budget. If you think of the two seventies classic movies At the Earth's core and Warlords of Atlantis done cheaply you get the idea. If you go into this movie expecting to see amazing effects Hollywood stars you will come away disappointed. If you want to see a triumph over adversity with a very strong plot but no budget to back it up, this is your movie. It is like 80s Dr Who compared to the revamped series with Chris Eccleson. This movie does feel like it could have Troughton or Pertwee in it helping to save the citizens of Atlantis.
I have found this great director Mike Murphy. He makes low budget classics. Oddly in the reviews there are two reviews from the same person both saying this movie is trash. It is a trash classic. Plus they give the ending away. Very bizarre way to review a movie.
