Review: TRINITY & BEYOND: THE ATOMIC BOMB MOVIE (1995)

We're not far away now ... the "Inspiration List" is almost done.

Today's documentary is Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie (1995).



I'll go first:

Trinity is thorough, going through seemingly every stage of America's nuclear testing program and almost every device detonated.  We're bombarded with codenames and operational codenames and dates.  In large part, this documentary feels like William Shatner is reading the text of a timeline or a series of footnotes from a large term paper on the Cold War.  The information we're given is straight outta Dragnet: "Just the facts, ma'am." 

The footage, however, is amazing.  Some of it we've seen thousands of times (like the GIF above) but here, we're given context and the purpose behind such tests as well as the preparations for tests to study how buildings hold up to blasts.  (You've seen that footage a bunch, too.) 

Despite a couple of interviews, Trinity feels cold.  The music is overly bombastic but the narration certainly isn't.  The details are thick and the footage jawdropping ... but that's it.  There's only the briefest mention of direct impact of the testing (and, coincidentally, it's about the Japanese fishing boat incident that inspired Gojira).  There's a scene featuring a guy talking about radiation and the impact on people ... but even that is clinical.  Nothing at all about the aftermath in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  There's no attempt at heart at all and that's a disappointment. 

Trinity and Beyond ... interesting to watch but don't expect to really feel anything.  2.5 out of five atomic breath blasts.

My son's turn:

Well, this is interesting. The documentery is about code names, destroying things, and Atomic Bombs. So i thought that there so many code names, Too much destruction, and BIG bombs. I think you can blow up the bad guys enough now so STOP MAKING THEM BIGGER!! 

So, rating wise, i'll say 2.3 out of 5 Atomic Bombs of Destruction!!!

Here's the trailer:



Here's a video showing us every nuclear test detonation ever:



Holy crap.

Next up, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.

(GIF from skinthiscat)