Das China-Syndrom

I can't give a higher rating, simply because I work in the field and the inaccuracies in the film bother me. It's not that an accident couldn't happen at a nuclear power plant, but the filmmakers didn't pay much attention to the realities of a nuclear power plant, making the whole thing seem unconvincing to someone who knows the subject. However, the film perfectly captures the societal fears that have led to the decline of the industry over the past 30 years. The film is worth seeing primarily for Jack Lemmon's acting and Jane Fonda's charm. Overall impression: 40%. (08.11.2007)

The problem with The China Syndrome is mainly the utter cowardice of the screenwriters, because we could be discussing all sorts of issues within the framework of atomic paranoia, such as nuclear waste storage or why John's newborn baby has his neighbor's eyes, yet the script winds it all around a certifiable evil and a negligent corporation, which in expertly B-movie fashion attempts to bury any suspicions that their nuclear power plant (really, it's so cute compared to, say, Temelín) was built by amateur Boy Scout campers. So it's important not to go looking under the semi-scientific title for a shocking study like Threads was, but really just a good thriller with commendable asides about the level of the media. (02.11.2012)

Even though you find out the authors’ opinion on nuclear energy pretty soon on, this is more than just a cheesy protest movie. Quite to the contrary, it uses paranoia and conspiracy quite sensitively according to the motto “the more minimalistic, the more intense". Most of the movie looks (I repeat: “looks" not “is"; from a technical point of view in fact it isn’t and doesn’t pretend to be) so true to life (and in the end more disturbing because of it) that if there was a caption saying “based on true events" many would jump at the bait; and they couldn’t be blamed for that. (04.08.2014)