Do you remember when the environmentalists used to be against nuclear power? It wasn't necessary to have alternative sources of energy in mind, after all, oil was fitting the bill, and coal is great, isn't it? Well, this movie brings back all those perspectives.
In this movie, also known as Holocaust 2000, Kirk Douglas is a millionaire who is spearheading nuclear power plant that will be built in an unnamed third world country. Right from the start, we are thrust into what is clearly the build-up for a biblical apocalypse. Everyone who stands in the way of this juggernaught meets with a horrible end, as it is clearly divine provenance that the plant be built to destroy the world.
As is so often the case with this era of movies, the science behind the plot is... questionable. Atone point a character states that a meltdown of this power plant would result in all of the power plants in the neighboring countries melting down as well and the world would be destroyed. The "scientist" inexplicably agrees with this assertion.
In order to allay fears about a potential disaster, they bring in a scientist who won a Nobel prize. But, that guy disappears. When we next see him, he appears to have abandoned science altogether. He starts spouting gibberish about the destruction of natural resources. Then, for no apparent reason, Kirk runs across a shoreline.
The scene where Kirk realizes that his project is about to destroy the world slaps you in the face with the symbolism, as the audience is expected not to be sophisticated enough to have seen the parallels. To top it off, we see the proposed elevated turbines (no idea why they would be elevated) with an overlay of the biblical creature with seven heads that will destroy the earth.
Here's the thing about most movies in the 70s: special effects just weren't their thing. Watching the effects in these movies reminds me of just how groundbreaking Industrial Lights and Magic really was with the Star Wars films. The vision of the turbines rising from the ocean is one pretty terrible (like Godzilla effect bad) effect that screams miniature.
The acting was generally bad, the storyline was atrocious, the dialogue was jarringly, uncomfortably short and simple, and the whole thing just doesn't stand up to the test of time. It's a terribly dated movie that probably wasn't particularly good units own day.
0.75/5