In amid the unfunny comedies and silly romantic tales of the late '80s movie business comes this absorbing, interesting gem of a film dealing with the threat of nuclear war. Achieving wonders on what is a low budget, this is an intelligent, accurate slice of film-making which remains gripping from start to finish. The decision to make this a character-focused piece of drama, instead of a special effects intense film (think : Armageddon), makes it all the more thrilling in that we care about the people involved.
A cast of mostly unknowns, only familiar from television, do a pretty good job to convey the fear as the clock ticks down to nuclear warfare. Another clever plot device is to have the film playing out in real time, so the viewer can also count the seconds ticking down to the strike, making it all the more intense. Anthony Edwards, while appearing somewhat wimpish and cowardly as the lead, does a great job, being as he is a messenger of death to most of the cast. You can really feel for his frantic plight as he rushes across the city and engages in all sorts of mishaps and violence. Many familiar faces turn up in bit parts, from Denise Crosby to the black police chief from ROBOCOP, who here plays the café owner. Also popping up are THE TERMINATOR's Doctor Silberman and Brian Thompson, the chief baddie in COBRA. Old timers John Agar and Lou Hancock provide a few laughs as the stubborn couple who are brought together by the threat - a cliché, yes, but a good one.
There are plenty of tense, nail biting moments in this film. The café scene, where Edward struggles to convince the locals of the threat, is a great one, as is the petrol station incident which explodes into unexpected tragic violence. But it's in the final stages where the film really comes into it's own, showing a city in chaos, full of crashed cars, looters, and people who have lost all their scruples and are more than willing to kill in a bid to survive. It's clever how this film shows how such a threat can change people in different ways, reverting human society back to its basic principles. Widespread chaos is easily conveyed in some powerful, dramatic scenes of turmoil and confusion at the end, which are very impressive on a low budget and good at putting across the hopelessness of the situation.
Okay, so the nuclear blast, when it comes, isn't very impressive (after all, they didn't have that big a budget, and I still think TERMINATOR 2 is the final word on portraying a horrific nuclear attack via spectacular effects), and the film does descend into some awful sentimentality in the dragged-out conclusion, with some terrible romantic stuff between Edwards and Winningham. But ignore these faults and instead focus on the ideas and issues behind this character-led piece of intense drama, and you'll have a great time.
A cast of mostly unknowns, only familiar from television, do a pretty good job to convey the fear as the clock ticks down to nuclear warfare. Another clever plot device is to have the film playing out in real time, so the viewer can also count the seconds ticking down to the strike, making it all the more intense. Anthony Edwards, while appearing somewhat wimpish and cowardly as the lead, does a great job, being as he is a messenger of death to most of the cast. You can really feel for his frantic plight as he rushes across the city and engages in all sorts of mishaps and violence. Many familiar faces turn up in bit parts, from Denise Crosby to the black police chief from ROBOCOP, who here plays the café owner. Also popping up are THE TERMINATOR's Doctor Silberman and Brian Thompson, the chief baddie in COBRA. Old timers John Agar and Lou Hancock provide a few laughs as the stubborn couple who are brought together by the threat - a cliché, yes, but a good one.
There are plenty of tense, nail biting moments in this film. The café scene, where Edward struggles to convince the locals of the threat, is a great one, as is the petrol station incident which explodes into unexpected tragic violence. But it's in the final stages where the film really comes into it's own, showing a city in chaos, full of crashed cars, looters, and people who have lost all their scruples and are more than willing to kill in a bid to survive. It's clever how this film shows how such a threat can change people in different ways, reverting human society back to its basic principles. Widespread chaos is easily conveyed in some powerful, dramatic scenes of turmoil and confusion at the end, which are very impressive on a low budget and good at putting across the hopelessness of the situation.
Okay, so the nuclear blast, when it comes, isn't very impressive (after all, they didn't have that big a budget, and I still think TERMINATOR 2 is the final word on portraying a horrific nuclear attack via spectacular effects), and the film does descend into some awful sentimentality in the dragged-out conclusion, with some terrible romantic stuff between Edwards and Winningham. But ignore these faults and instead focus on the ideas and issues behind this character-led piece of intense drama, and you'll have a great time.