Reactor meltdown 2 review movie#

Once the characters in Chernobyl begin to accept the gravity of the situation, traditional GSU sets in. We’re screaming at them, “YOU NEED TO GET OFF THE BOAT! THIS THING’S GOING TO START SINKING AND YOU’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!” After the ship hits the iceberg, we’re gobsmacked that everyone is so calm. This is the same reason Titanic worked so well. The audience becomes actively involved because they want the characters to catch up to them. So when the nuclear reactor workers are shrugging their shoulders saying this isn’t a big deal, we’re screaming at the screen, “YES! IT’S A HUGE DEAL! YOU NEED TO ACT NOW YOU DUMMIES!” That’s one of the great things about working through a dramatically ironic premise. We know the radiation that’s been released is so devastating that this town is abandoned still to this day. We, the audience, know a lot more than the characters onscreen. One of the primary reasons Chernobyl is so good is that it builds its premise around dramatic irony.

When that happens, there will be a gigantic nuclear explosion the likes of which has never been seen before. Legasov learns that the reactors’ tanks are all filled with water, which means a chemical reaction is inevitable. The two will have to figure out a way to plug up the reactor core, an action that has no precedent in history. When they visit the heart of the site and see the devastating effects the radiation is having on the workers and residents, Boris changes his tune. Gorbachev teams Legasov up with Boris Shcherbina, a high ranking Russian general who seems more annoyed by this mess than worried. In a meeting with Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev, he tells him that if he doesn’t plug up that reactor core, not only will tens of millions of people in Russia die, but millions of people in the surrounding countries will die as well. Which means Chernobyl isn’t spitting out a pithy 3.6 R/s, but rather 2000 R/s. He realizes immediately that this is no small fire. Meanwhile, Legasov, a professor who’s an expert in these matters, is flown to Chernobyl to assess the damage. In other words, the meters are tapping out at the highest level they’re capable of showing.

He fails to mention, however, that their on-site dosimeters only measure up to 3.6 R/s. And unless they stop it, that could go on for 1000 years.īack to Dyatlov, who informs his superiors that the radiation readings are only coming in at 3.6 R/s, which is bad but by no means lethal. How devastating? Valery Legasov, the chief of the commission, later tells us that every hour that goes by where the core is exposed, it will be like 2 Hiroshima bombs going off. The chief engineer on site, Anatoly Dyatlov, dismisses the explosion, arguing that it’s a minor fire as opposed to a meltdown of the reactor core, which would be way more devastating. After a brief flash-forward to show one of the chief inspectors hanging himself, we cut back to that fateful night where we see the Chernobyl reactor blow up. “Chernobyl” doesn’t waste any time getting down to brass tacks. So if you aren’t at least considering the competition, you’ll come up short. But entertainment is one of the most competitive industries in the world.

Reactor meltdown 2 review movie#

What is it about your movie or TV show that would make someone choose it over something else? It’s a bit of a mind f&*% because you can’t really get into the collective heads of everybody on the planet. They should imagine a consumer trying to make a choice.

I bring this up because it’s something writers should be thinking about whenever they start a new project. But Chernobyl’s review scores so outweighed Yesterday’s that I had no choice. I was sitting down this weekend, trying to figure out what I was going to review on Monday – the light as a buttery crepe “Yesterday,” or the heavy as a dead whale carcass, “Chernobyl.” The choice would’ve been easy had the two been evenly rated. The show has stirred up controversy in Russia, where the Communist Party of Russia’s Sergey Malinkovich called the show disgusting and is trying to ban it across the country.ĭetails: This is a review of the first two episodes It has an unheard of 9.6/10 rating on IMDB. Premise: The fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown, whose damage was compounded by a corrupt government determined to cover up the severity of the incident.Ībout: Chernobyl snuck up out of nowhere to become a huge HBO hit.