Lost City Raiders

The world is soggy. Everybody has a sinking feeling. Global warming, resulting from too much cell phone texting or something, has begun melting polar ice caps, increasing sea level, and turning cities into giant swimming pools. Fortune hunters James Brolin and two other guys playing his sons, roam around looking for artifacts and trouble. They wear wet suits and scuba equipment. One of the sons tries to get eaten by a shark about 30 seconds into the film. Brolin exits the film soon after; must not have been paid much. He delivers his few lines well, and he's buddies with a Vatican cardinal.

Rich megalomaniac Ben Cross pays off a girl who talks like Arnold Scharzeneggar; she used to date the guy who wanted to get eaten by a shark. Legend has it that there's a scepter that just may end the water problem, and so everybody goes after it, even some rogue priest. There are a few good underwater temple scenes, and some fun action, and the story line works. Although it's obviously copying Indy Jones, it at least offers some new ideas to the formula. The conflicts to get the scepter and its immense power keep you involved, and the cast make the most of what they're given. The temple scrawling of how the scepter machine works made me laugh. It looked like the schematic for one of those old transistor radios from the '50's.

Hastilly put together with limited resources, but somehow this film gets away with it. For a SyFy freebie, it's really not bad.

Can't add a spoiler alert because I couldn't stick it out. Truly, I tried but this is the winner in my personal worst movie ever contest. Absolutely the worst, worst, dumbest movie ever in my humble (well, OK, not so humble) opinion. Makes Waterworld look like Shakespeare. I admit it. I can't think of anything else to say but burn the film, disable the projector, pull the plug. Kill it before it airs again. SciFi my foot. JUNKY STUPID! Yes, I'm shouting it to the rooftops. Save yourself! Send this Brolin back to the fetid arms of his beloved. YUCK! Not enough words? Well try this for an ender: WARNING! WATCHING THIS MESS WILL REDUCE YOUR IQ AND YOUR LIFE SPAN! You cannot afford the time to check out this tripe. Medieval dentistry would be preferable. YUCK. YUCK. A thousand times dreck!

40 years in the future Global Warming has submerged most of the Earth underwater and a Father (James Brolin) and his two Sons (Ian Solmerhalder & Jamie Thomas King) salvage treasures from sunken buildings for a living when they are given an important assignment from the Vatican to uncover an historical artifact which can lower the seas moses-style - or some such nonsense. The budget as this is a Syfy Channel Production is Low (looks a lot lower than the $6.4M quoted here) and it shows rather badly at times, especially as buildings in the far distance look like paintings, but the acting isn't too bad and there is enough action to keep you interested if not glued to the screen.

A German made production Filmed entirely in South Africa and Directed by Jean De Segonzac, who has been in the Director's chair on many a TV Series and several forgettable DTV Movies.

I think everybody should watch this movie, not as a serious action movie, but simply for being incredible and hilariously funny. Basically constructed as a cheaper TV imitation of familiar mega productions (Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones, Waterworld etc.), "Lost City Raiders" presents the ultimate explanation for the climate catastrophe: we all live in a gigantic bathtub, and every few thousand years, someone needs to pull the plug to lower the water level. Moses did it once, and our heroes just need to find his scepter to repeat the trick. Mind you, this is not a parody, it's intended to be convincing and scientific. When I read the summary on the back of the DVD cover, I desperately wanted to see the movie because I found it hard to believe until I saw it with my own eyes. How does one sell a story like this to a producer? It sounds like a lunatic Troma project, but actually is an international co-production, quite big by TV standards. Apart from the crazy outline, the script is pretty well constructed though: Bettina Zimmermann's character signing a deal with the wrong team, a lot about James Brolin's character only being revealed afterwards etc. - and finally, I liked the design of the cave, archaic and futuristic at the same time.

I'll make this pretty short, as other reviewers have already pointed out most of this..

This movie (which is titled "The End of the World" in my country, for reasons no one knows) is among the worst I have seen.. And I've watched through all of "Pterodactyl" as well as "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians"..

The acting is dubious at its very best. Brolin takes the prize with his slow, unconvincing reads, but the others aren't doing a lot better.

The setting - a future where the world is partially submerged due to global warming - is believable, but the environment and geography is far from it (going from L.A. to Rome in a trawler, anyone?). The premise seems to shift during the film, and one key element of the story changes its method radically, to the point where it is ridiculous.

All in all, I'm glad I borrowed this movie from a friend, so I didn't spend any money on it. I'd like my hour-and-a-half back, please.. At least the other two movies, mentioned above, - though bad - are so bad they're funny.. This is just excruciating!