User Reviews

I saw it on Sunday at MotelX.

This film reports the events in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, as workers at this facility heroically stayed and avoided an international catastrophe, much greater than Chernobyl, after the massive damages caused by an earthquake, a tsunami and earthquake aftershocks .

It's a good catastrophe film, based on Ryusho Kadota's book "On the Brink: the inside Story of Fukushima Daiichi", where you see Japanese workers' culture, discipline, ethics and responsibility at work, with also some luck and good fortune of fate, avoided the worst, even dealing with idiocy and eagerness for protagonism on the part of political leaders.

It just lacks for being too long with overly mellow finish.

Another thing that bothers me, a litle, is the choice of the soundtrack, namely the famous theme "Danny Boy", has nothing to do with the theme, nor with Japanese culture, except for being a beautiful nostalgic, sad and melancholic theme, it sounds out of place in this film . There are definitely nice and suitable Japanese themes, just saying.

But I recommend the movie to anyone who wants more real sense of the events of that day.

Watched this on HBO and have to say that overall it is a good movie that shows people under distress and pressure.

The biggest flaw in this movie is the US part (scene) that shows as if the US would be and have the mean to save Japan from disaster and when they decide to act... it is to deliver bottled water. Really. It should have stopped at the helis leaving. Some botled water in a nuclear disaster. Really.

This film tries to recreate what could end up being Japan's worst nuclear accident as it is imagined primarily from within the crippled power plant. Since the short-term outcome is known (the long-term outcome is probably decades away), it's hard to create much, if any, suspense. Unfortunately, there is not much drama either; just a lot of repetitious shouting and running around. The latter is often confusing and suffers from poor editing. Story line focuses on what looks to be some of the real heroes of the day remanufactured by the script. The performances of these movie hero characters tend to be rather unconvincing mainly due to over acting. Interior sets are also on the sparse side and special effects seem to be underutilized. The film is way too long and, as noted earlier, very repetitious. All in all, an underwhelming movie experience. Viewed at Japan Cuts. WILLIAM FLANIGAN

A truly disappointing version of the nuclear disaster that befell Japan a decade ago. This one has the budget and the FX to do the story justice, but it takes a dialogue-heavy, low key approach that negates any attempts at suspense or tension or indeed excitement. Ken Watanabe is wasted in a non-dramatic role and the whole thing feels like a TV documentary dramatisation rather than a real slice of drama in itself.

This is a film about the 50 frontline engineers who were trapped at the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant's main control room during the 2011 Tsunami and Nuclear Leak disaster. As the world were putting the blame on Japan for using Sea Water to cool the Reactors that led to unimaginable radiation to the Sea up to this day, this film tends to offer the audience who may be eager to know more the inside story and the human nature of personnel involved in the disaster. As the titular name suggests 'Fukushima 50', it depicts the story of the 50 engineers trapped in the disaster and struggling to keep the damaged Reactors from a culminating overheat meltdown, explosion and or imminent Nuclear leak to the entire East Japan and the surrounding Fukushima prefecture. That said, the film is not solely about the spectacles of the disaster and trying to vindicate Japan of any censure but rather a retrospect of the disaster. Director Setsuro Wakamatsu does a good job here by balancing everything well and not sensationalizing the situation. It exposes the flaws of various aspects including bureaucratic disruptions and oversight problems. However the Prime Minister's depiction in this film is comedic and i suspect it is the director's intention to mock the then-prime minister. The engineers involved in the situation are merely workers and are not responsible for the unexpected catastrophe. They are only workers under the Tokyo Electric Company responsible for everything including the wrong calculation of an emergency crisis situation. Their workers, led by Head Engineer Izaki, and his crew are only humans after all and did not abandon their posts but displayed heroic valor to try to contain the imminent annihilation and saved one another. It also showed the Japanese spirit of unity and rapport for one another and the community, displaying the unselfishness and even sacrificing one's own for the good of another. Overall the main actors (Izaki) performances are commendable and Ken Watanabe carries the film further with his nuances. The effects and aftermath are done well. Director Wakamatsu erects the scenes well, although if more budget would been allowed, we hope to see a little more of the calamitous threat of the Power Plant by the Tsunami. Even though the transition between the 2nd Act and the 3rd Act falls a little short of expectation i still laud the film fairly well done. No doubt everybody is disturbed that tonnes of radiation has leaked to the Sea but the film has acknowledged that the Japanese have underestimated the force of nature. I definitely support and advocate the right approach of Japan's clean energy concept as opposed to traditional coal power that pollutes the environment but this heavy lesson has taught us that Nuclear Plants should always be equipped with high contingency protection in the case of an unexpected event, especially in a country inherent with Earthquake risk.