Absolutely terrible - but not completely terrible. I mean the structure is actually quite sound. It starts excitingly with troops coming into an army base to find everyone dead except for mysterious Michael Caine, and the action is developed well. There are some strong emotional sequences such as a kid watching his parents die in front of his eyes, and scientist Henry Fonda risking his life testing venom, and Bradford Dillman bitching about Caine and Richard Widmark, no fan of Caine's character, scolds Dillman for being a backstabber.
And the movie "goes there" - the kid sees his parents die, a train crashes wiping out half the cast, Houston is burned, hundreds of people die... the stakes are massive.
But it is terrible. The whole concept is flawed from the start. Disaster movies about fire and capsized boats and earthquakes work because such things happen in real life - but not mass attacks by killer bees. It's completely made up.
Okay so that wasn't fatal - zombie movies are completely made up and they work. But zombies are scary. Bees - why a bit scary in real life (they sting!) - aren't that effective on the big screen, at least not as dramatised here. They are a buzzy fuzzy mass descending on people - it's as visually exciting as watching people get attacked by clouds. We don't even get some cool gory close ups of faces exploding or something.
The acting is poor. I don't think Michael Caine has ever been so bad - half asleep, delivering his awful lines in monotone, occasionally shouting at Richard Widmark. Katherine Ross isn't much better as his dopey love interest. Richard Widmark is at least professional as a military officer.
You've got varying performances from people such as Richard Chamberlain, Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland, Ben Johnson, Fred MacMurray. They all struggle with some horrendous dialogue. Stirling Silliphant was a good writer - I'd like to think he wasn't responsible. William Goldman has often downplayed the importance of dialogue, allowing that sometimes sparkling dialogue can really be an attraction. In this one it's fatal.
The story isn't bad in a junky way - it's got structure, it moves. But its inherently silly with that agonising dialogue. Badly directed to. Worth seeing! (I'm serious it's great campy fun.)
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