A young genius (or so we told) wishes to win the science fair by building an atomic bomb. The music swells up, the military are the bad guys and the youth of today is at the rescue. It's well acted, has John Lightgow (which is always a plus), competently directed and never boring or original. The one problem: the film's core idea. Are we really expected to sympathise with an adolescent and a nuclear device as a toy? Even a dim brain would have thought this was the mother of all bad ideas. Screenwriter/director Marshal Brickman must have realised this half way though and all of a sudden our little genius turns his irresponsible idea into an anti-nuclear stance. As a result, he comes across as a self righteous prat. Mind you, he's only young. But imagine what kind of man he'll grow up to be...
Review of The Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project
(1986)
An atomic bomb at the science fair. What could possibly go wrong.
19 December 2021