The Neptune Factor (1973)

When an underwater ocean lab is lost in a earthquake, an advanced submarine is sent down to find it and encounters terrible danger. (IMDb)

An exciting enough undersea rescue premise here is expanded upon to be anything but, with the decent drama accompanying the initial catastrophe being slowly snuffed out by a terribly slow-paced rescue mission that somehow ends up being more about silently gazing at “giant” pet store fish then rescuing their comrades, while the dangers of water pressure and a depleted sub battery are stated and then promptly ignored without explanation in the inconsequential climax. A badly made and boring film.

4.5/10 (Bad)

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)

When the Earth is threatened by a burning Van Allen Radiation Belt, US Navy Admiral Harriman Nelson plans to shoot a nuclear missile at the Belt using his experimental atomic submarine, the Seaview. (IMDb)

An undersea sci-fi adventure that loses its credibility as soon as a global disaster comes out of left field in the form of a terrible looking sky on fire. The world-saving submarine mission established henceforth (featuring a tiresome repeated external sub shot) is just as outrageous and poorly written, with the crew and captain melodrama within the visually superior indoor sets offering only slight consolation. It’s a film that’s never substantial, and only occasionally entertaining.

5.5/10 (Poor)

Forbidden Planet (1956)

A starship crew goes to investigate the silence of a planet’s colony only to find two survivors and a deadly secret that one of them has. (IMDb)

There’s a compelling psychological climax here but it’s mostly too little, too late for a slow-paced storyline squashed by ridiculous romantic tangents and interesting but unnecessarily bloated discourse on futuristic technology, while an incessant and annoying “space sounds” soundtrack makes these contrived grabs for attention even less bearable. Inventive and enjoyable (if a little campy) sci-fi exploration here is outweighed by a shoddy plot in desperate need of substance and streamlining.

6/10 (Mediocre)