Review of The China Syndrome (1979) by Brad S — 26 Apr 2015

I think the movie goes a little too far to deliver its message. It's the equivalent of calling The Day After Tomorrow an important film about global warming. I'm not sure if the message is about nuclear power being a dangerous energy source or that people who work at power plants are incompetent at best and evil at worst. The first observation made about the plant is how everyone seems too young and inexperienced. The movie isn't like The Insider. That movie was about a guy who worked in the tobacco industry and wanted to expose some dirty secrets about them. It's okay to take an alarmist stance in that context because if someone watches the movie and walks away thinking cigarette companies are evil that's actually a good thing. Convince them not to smoke. What the movie does is on top of convincing us that we should get rid of nuclear power, it destroys our confidence in the people currently in charge of power plants. I just don't think it's appropriate in a film with such grave concerns. Some might call it fear mongering.

Even without the message it's an entertaining movie. The only performance that really stands out is Jack Lemmon. He does a good job of looking like a conflicted man that you feel sorry for. It's fun watching him freak out while running around pressing buttons like Dr. Frankenstein in his lab. He's also in a thrilling car chase that's probably the films main highlight.

It's a good movie, but it would have been better if it didn't state what side it's on in such a shameless way. It takes the impact out of the message. After just watching the movie for the first time I'm not afraid of power plants, but I would like to play in the control room. It's a good thing I don't own a nuclear power plant.