This film (sometimes shown as a mini-series) is not good, but it is not as awful as some suggest. The basis of much of the criticism is the way in which it portrays Australia. But it is by no means clear that the events are taking place in Australia. Sometimes they are - for we are shown a caption stating this - but sometimes we cannot tell. The essential problem with this film for me was the continual uncertainly as to exactly were the scene was set.
For instance, the secret underground facility was apparently run by US officials - the flag on the wall was a dead giveaway, if the phone call to the President didn't make it clear. But the inmates could then apparently surface and drive across country, first to what we thought was Sydney, Australia, then across desert to a country house in what looked suspiciously - and obviously - like South Africa. Perhaps the backers insisted that references to South Africa be removed? The special effects were not good either, but I've seen worse on even cinematically-released films. Technically the accents were the worst feature of the film. It was not that they varied - there is some suggestion that the Laboratory is multinational - but that some of them were simply bad (the villain's fellow escapee being the worst, by far, to my mind).
For the price of a few captions, and a slight tightening of the script, the film suffered the embarrassment of failure. It cannot convince the audience when the director, producer and script writer (assuming that there was one) cannot decide which country the story is set in.
For instance, the secret underground facility was apparently run by US officials - the flag on the wall was a dead giveaway, if the phone call to the President didn't make it clear. But the inmates could then apparently surface and drive across country, first to what we thought was Sydney, Australia, then across desert to a country house in what looked suspiciously - and obviously - like South Africa. Perhaps the backers insisted that references to South Africa be removed? The special effects were not good either, but I've seen worse on even cinematically-released films. Technically the accents were the worst feature of the film. It was not that they varied - there is some suggestion that the Laboratory is multinational - but that some of them were simply bad (the villain's fellow escapee being the worst, by far, to my mind).
For the price of a few captions, and a slight tightening of the script, the film suffered the embarrassment of failure. It cannot convince the audience when the director, producer and script writer (assuming that there was one) cannot decide which country the story is set in.