cav427

Chernobyl was a tragic event, caused by human error, and a very poor design (The reactors had no containment buildings, just 1 major example!).

Not mentioned in the movie, how much pollution is really there. There are many more pollutants than just radioactive materials, all much more mutanogenic than the radioactive ones. Moreover, the narrator just cites the nuclear disaster as the cause. This is at a time when nuclear power is necessary to our economy.

The birth defects shown are horrific and tragic, and all very heart wrenching, but truly how many children are effected? There are 1,000's of birth defects in the US and other countries, all can be attributed to causes other than nuclear radiation. Ever hear of the "March of Dimes"?

As for the scene when she holds up the Geiger counter, and says how scarred she is, either by a lie or incompetence, she is using it inaccurately. The selector switch is on Total Count, not on a count by minute (CPM rate), as it should be. Is the total count on over 1 minute, five minutes, several hours, several days? The "clicks" registered do not match up with the count displayed either. It appears to me that it is at maybe a couple of hundred counts per minute, not 13,000 counts every single minute (The LED would look steady at that rate!). Yes there is radiation levels higher than average world background, but there are beaches in France and India, Ramsar Iran, and other places that have very high background counts, and there are relatively few incidences of cancer and birth defects.

Are children with birth defects a good charity? Of course! But one should not lie, by omission or ignorance about it to collect funds.

To start off with, this is not a sexy thriller. No mystery, no suspense, very predictable at best. As far as sexy, if one considers a man haggling with hookers over price, then it is sexy. It was very disappointing to see William H.Macy portray such a one dimensional role. He is truly a much better actor than the poorly written role demanded. All the other stars seem to be added for fluff, no real substance. They appear to have been available, and in between the takes of other movies. As for the surprise ending, no surprise, it was way too predictable. This movie belongs on the Sundance Channel with all the other crappy films that claim to have socially redeeming qualities. In short, it was a waste of the $3.95 I paid at Blockbuster's.

Don't expect a super high quality sci-fi adventure, and don't take it serious, and you will enjoy this movie! There are numerous editing mistakes, such as magically multiplying aliens, but it still was entertaining.

Bruce Campbell again plays the unlikely leader of ragtag band of enslaved humans. There where many elements borrowed from "Army of Darkness," and as a result the movie worked as an entertaining 1 hr and 15 minutes (hard to say exactly how long it was with all the superfluous commercials).

There are a couple of good Bruce Campbell one liners and of course campy acting. If you are a Bruce Campbell fan you will enjoy this movie.

Dirty Bomb does an excellent job of illustrating how the public would panic if a Dirty Bomb was detonated, but does a poor job on the technical side by overstating the dangers of the radioactive substances released by such a device. The writer has a poor handle on the measurement of radioactivity, and adds to the scare by being non descript as to the substances used. I was disappointed with the portrayal of emergency services and how the leaders where willing to pull back crews so quickly after the event, I feel they would actually be much more heroic as a whole, and not as scared as they where portrayed. Relistically speaking, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were subject to the release of a lot more radioactive substances and radiation than any dirty bomb would ever release, and they where rebuilt within a few years, and people live there today. Despite the technical inaccuracy, The movie does illustrate terrorists greatest tool, the ability to instill a sense of panic in the public.

A reactor hit by a Tornado? Plausible. Damage, Inplausable. This movie is filled with technical inaccuracies, Phony physics, and a poor understanding of how a reactor is run. Waste pools water will not boil, and has no links to reactor coolant. Movies like this have killed the nuclear power industry unjustifiably. The only reason my family and I continued watching was to make fun of it, like Mystery Science Theater 3000. In fact, I think any physicist watching this would vomit. A Chernobyl like event is impossible in the United States, since we use an ingenious device known as a Containment Building. Chernobyl did not have a containment building covering it's reactors.