Takes itself way too seriously

not as good as all the hype

Just perfect...

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This movie was shown during the US Air Force Academy's Chemistry of Weapons course as background for the nuclear weapons portion. A visually stunning documentary.I cannot believe the sheer ignorance collectively shown towards this movie. Apparently some think only 15 nuclear tests would have been necessary altogether instead of the 331 performed tests. Really??? Do you know why all of the harmful long-term side effects are now common knowledge? Because of these tests! I'm sorry you think they were so unnecessary, but what are your credentials to claim that 15 would have been enough? Did any of you know that there is a ring a few miles in diameter around both 'ground zeros' (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) where the local populous has a lower occurrence of cancer or any other birth defects than any other area (including the areas both closer and farther from the detonation site), leading scientists to the remarkable conclusion that our bodies may actually benefit from a small amount of radiation? (source is former head of Dept. of Chemistry, USAFA) And here everyone demonizes the US for both using the bomb during time of war as well as subsequent testing... what utter ignorance. People need to go look up the facts before making themselves look like idiots.

What makes this film so interesting is that it shows many previously classified films of exploding atomic bombs during US testing in the 1940s and 1950s; as well as the test sites, equipment and key players. Also of interest are clips of military and public information films from the era.Much of this information is here made accessible to the public for the first time, which makes it all the more pity that many of the films have been cleverly edited by the filmmaker to increase the "wow" factor. For example, the GRABLE test from 1953 has been edited to the point of being misleading; the time from the firing of the tactical shell from the gun, to the its detonation several miles away has been cut from the 19 seconds in the original footage, to just 9 seconds in this film, so that it times nicely with the music. It gives the impression that the shell explodes much sooner than it actually did in reality.There are other similar artistic licenses taken, and the result for me, is that, though the documentary has some awesome shots, it's less interesting than it might have been.Technical information about the bombs is kept to a bare minimum, and often we are left wondering how, why and what happened next; and having William Shatner do the narration doesn't help...

This film would have been nothing were it not for the outstanding scoring by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. The music amplifies the horror, the bizarre and grotesque beauty, the grandiose irony of this film and its subject. Shatner's fact-like voice is like monochrome, and never distracts from the subject with character. It is a purposefully amoral film to good effect. Without stretching far beyond the immediate implications of a nuclear blast, and by staying devoid of ideology, we are left with the terrible phenomenon itself - the atomic blast.To me, this was a real horror movie... sitting paralyzed, bug eyed, shocked, mouth agape and all that, complete with surround sound and weighty, ponderous Russian orchestrations in grotesque minor keys. You pray to God they make presidents watch films like these.I also thought the ending "However..." sequence was perfect. To say that weapons find rest in the hands of fools becomes a truly shocking understatement when you see the sheer unhinged lunacy of the final scene.

I was somewhat disappointed with this film. This is a hugely important part of human history that has somewhat disappeared in our present time. Although politicians today (2004) like to spit out superlatives about ¡°the most dangerous times¡± and ¡°the world has changed¡±¡¦ Oh Please¡¦. Although unimaginable-- an entire city being destroyed by a terrorist atomic bomb, we MUST try and contemplate thousands of cities being hit by multi megaton bombs. Sorry folks, that is a far greater danger. This doc did little to really set that tone and remind us of those extremely dangerous times. Fog of War did a far better job of that. Still, its worth seeing and I will give his other docs a try