A Major Disappointment

The first must-see film of the year.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This resourceful film is affecting and romantic in the most literal way and manages to be so against the backdrop of a nuclear attack. Neon lit and increasingly tense, ignore the few rough edges and you will be rewarded with an absolutely unique experience, if only more genre films were as original and sincerely offbeat as this.

Back in 1980's and early 90's, the threat of nuclear war still played on many people's minds. With the umpteenth Cold War kicked off by the rise to power of Mikhail Gorbachev in the USSR, an arms race commenced between the Soviets and the US under president Ronald Reagan, until the Soviet Union eventually collapsed in 1991. Miracle Mile takes these fears and ponders what the knowledge of an incoming nuclear strike and imminent death would do to a person while everybody goes about their business none the wiser. By leaving it until the very end to confirm whether or not World War III has officially commenced, or if it's all in the mind of its increasingly paranoid and desperate protagonist, Miracle Mile is a tense and often funny end-of-the-world (or not) thriller.The film begins with a meeting between two singletons, trombone player Harry (Anthony Edwards) and coffee shop waitress Julie (Mare Winningham). It's love at first sight and they agree to meet up again later after Julie finishes her shift to grab a bite to eat. Harry oversleeps however, and by the time he makes it to the coffee shop, Julie is nowhere to be found. As he nervously waits outside, the phone rings in the nearby telephone booth. The man on the other line, who believes he is calling his father, informs Harry that an irreversible nuclear strike has been set in motion, and the U.S. has approximately one hour before complete annihilation. The man is cut short by machine gun fire, before another voice tells Harry to forget everything he has heard. After a bit of further investigation, the outlandish claim start to ring true. Deciding he would rather spend his last moments with the woman he loves, Harry begins his search, always clinging to the belief that they can somehow escape with their lives.With much of the action dedicated to Harry's panicked dash across a sleeping Los Angeles, where he encounters many offbeat characters played by the likes of Mykelti Williamson, Denise Crosby, Eddie Bunker and Brian Thompson, Miracle Mile brought to mind the enthralling aimlessness of Martin Scorsese's After Hours, and the eerie emptiness of a nighttime city of Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia. There's real tension in the events leading up to the possible apocalypse, and even more so when word begins to spread and downtown turns into sheer chaos and lawlessness. At the film's centre is the romance between Harry and Julie, and there's a sweetness to the irony of meeting your true love on the day the world will be reduced to rubble. It's played nicely by the two leads, with Edwards reminding us that he is a solid character actor deserving of more movie roles. A true forgotten gem that leaves you wondering if you would rather be given the chance to make the most of your last moments on Earth, or remain blissfully ignorant.

Trombone playing Harry Washello (Anthony Edwards) falls for Julie Peters (Mare Winningham). They have a good day together. They set up a date after her shift at the diner ends at midnight. Harry takes a nap but a power outage stops his alarm clock. He oversleeps and arrives at the diner at 4am. Julie is long gone. Harry calls her from the payphone and receives a weird call from a guy warning his father about the launch of nuclear missiles. Nuclear blasts are expected in an hour. Diner customer Landa (Denise Crosby) calls and discovers politicians all leaving the country. She organizes planes to leave for Anarctica. As the group drives to the airport, Harry stops to find Julie. It's a chaotic night. The premise has this wonderful urgency. It could be tweaked a little. The new love idea is a bit of a fable. This whole movie is somewhat one. It's a great one-late-night movie. The story isn't completely cohesive but it is very compelling. I also love Harry's varying stories although it may be even more compelling if the audience doesn't hear the original phone call from the missile base. It would be great if the audience wonders about the veracity of Harry's story.

When musician Harry meets Julie in the museum, he immediately falls in love with her. They schedule a date late night on Miracle Mile, but his alarm clock fails and Harry misses the date, arriving three and a half hours late. Harry takes a mistaken phone call and is told the United State has just started nuclear war sending missiles against the Soviet Union, and in two hours Los Angeles would be hit by the enemy. Harry seeks out Julie and frantically tries to find a helicopter pilot to leave Los Angeles.....Films and programmes about Nuclear War have always scared the living daylights out of me, ever since I saw Threads at school. I've never seen When The Wind Blows, and the dream sequence in T2 is always skipped whenever I watch it. But this movie has always intrigued me.For some reason, when I saw this movie showing at my cinema back in 1991, I always thought that it would take a slightly light hearted, odd look on pending Nuclear Holocaust.While the film isn't as light hearted as I thought back when I was 14, but it certainly does feature some very oddball, almost Lynchian type characters, and this is the films strong point, its oddness.The main plot, him seeking her for the end of the world isn't the films strong point, in fact, its a pretty dull narrative. But his journey to find her is very interesting, and at times it's as if the makers are making a post apocalyptic adventure like the ones made in the eighties (Land Of Doom, Spacehunter).The amount of trouble he gets into and causes is quite remarkable, and as the news of impending war is circulating, the characters become more and more desperate and irrational.It's definitely worth watching, but the plot isn't up to much.Thank heavens for the bizarre characters....