Being a fan of apocalyptic fiction I'd been dying to see this movie for years . I'd first heard about in John Brosnan's highly regarded sci-fi critique Future Tense. A father and his family survive a nuclear attack on the United States and leads the brood in a desperate fight for survival . Okay it's a premise often used in this type of genre but it's one that works well and makes you think that that only civilization separates us from animals hence its common usage . After finally seeing the movie I'm not surprised that it's little seen - it's dreadful
It's always a sign of a bad movie when the opening score seems at odds of the genre the film belongs to . You want a gritty film set in a post nuclear hell ? Then what better that having a cool jazz score ? Hmmm I'm feeling mellow baby , someone roll me another doobie daddy-o . This is the fundamental problem with the movie - it's called PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO but there's absolutely no panic whatsoever , none . Upon finding out LA has been nuked patriarch Harry Baldwin leads his family to the nearest diner and despite being witnesses to world war three customers are more interested in what's missing on the menu . Right so millions of people have just been vaporised and all you're worried about is not getting your side order of eggs ? Right on daddy-o . Just roll me another one and lets listen to some more cool jazz
It's impossible to buy in to this scenario at all . There's no political build up to the nuclear strike . For those of us who remember the peak of the cold war in the early 1980s you'd know something like a war in the Middle East or Central Europe would lead to the inevitable use of tactical nuclear weapons finally leading to strategic nuclear weapons meaning the end of humanity . Here however all the indications is that the nasty communists in the USSR and China have launched a pre-emptive nuclear strike , a later radio broadcast confirms this . If that's the case then why didn't the communist block use all their arsenal ? Only the very major cities in the west like New York , LA , Philidelphia , London , Paris and Rome are destroyed . Why such a half hearted attack that invites hellish retaliation ? The whole point about a pre-emptive strike is to stop an enemy nation retaliating against you . Maybe the Politburea were too busy smoking pot and listening to decadent bourgeois jazz to care daddy-o ?
That said the subtext seems to be about survivalism in much the same as as a John Christopher novel . Indeed you can't help be reminded of his 1956 novel The Death Of Grass , so much so that you believe the producers have stolen many of the ideas of the book then decided to set it against a World War 3 backdrop which doesn't work at all . Despite seeing a mushroom cloud in the distance and talk of fall out most of the characters don't react as you'd expect them to in the face of civil devastation , no one for example comes to the conclusion that money will be worthless . Despite being ahead of the game Harry slugs a greedy gas station owner and leaves for the money for the gas . Incidentally there's not the slightest hint of irony to this and the film continues in this vein
It's interesting how well received PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO has been on this page . One can't help thinking this reception is down to be it being a rather audience friendly film . After seeing the BBC nuclear holocaust teleplay THREADS away back in 1984 I couldn't sleep for days . Likewise despite its numerous flaws NO BLADE OF GRASS based on the John Christopher novel also stuck out in my mind due to its bleakness . Here however bleakness seems confined to a family getting there fishing trip ruined for a few days . One can accept the Hays Code being enforced during this period but it doesn't excuse the lack of logic and the excess of right on daddy-o muzak
It's always a sign of a bad movie when the opening score seems at odds of the genre the film belongs to . You want a gritty film set in a post nuclear hell ? Then what better that having a cool jazz score ? Hmmm I'm feeling mellow baby , someone roll me another doobie daddy-o . This is the fundamental problem with the movie - it's called PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO but there's absolutely no panic whatsoever , none . Upon finding out LA has been nuked patriarch Harry Baldwin leads his family to the nearest diner and despite being witnesses to world war three customers are more interested in what's missing on the menu . Right so millions of people have just been vaporised and all you're worried about is not getting your side order of eggs ? Right on daddy-o . Just roll me another one and lets listen to some more cool jazz
It's impossible to buy in to this scenario at all . There's no political build up to the nuclear strike . For those of us who remember the peak of the cold war in the early 1980s you'd know something like a war in the Middle East or Central Europe would lead to the inevitable use of tactical nuclear weapons finally leading to strategic nuclear weapons meaning the end of humanity . Here however all the indications is that the nasty communists in the USSR and China have launched a pre-emptive nuclear strike , a later radio broadcast confirms this . If that's the case then why didn't the communist block use all their arsenal ? Only the very major cities in the west like New York , LA , Philidelphia , London , Paris and Rome are destroyed . Why such a half hearted attack that invites hellish retaliation ? The whole point about a pre-emptive strike is to stop an enemy nation retaliating against you . Maybe the Politburea were too busy smoking pot and listening to decadent bourgeois jazz to care daddy-o ?
That said the subtext seems to be about survivalism in much the same as as a John Christopher novel . Indeed you can't help be reminded of his 1956 novel The Death Of Grass , so much so that you believe the producers have stolen many of the ideas of the book then decided to set it against a World War 3 backdrop which doesn't work at all . Despite seeing a mushroom cloud in the distance and talk of fall out most of the characters don't react as you'd expect them to in the face of civil devastation , no one for example comes to the conclusion that money will be worthless . Despite being ahead of the game Harry slugs a greedy gas station owner and leaves for the money for the gas . Incidentally there's not the slightest hint of irony to this and the film continues in this vein
It's interesting how well received PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO has been on this page . One can't help thinking this reception is down to be it being a rather audience friendly film . After seeing the BBC nuclear holocaust teleplay THREADS away back in 1984 I couldn't sleep for days . Likewise despite its numerous flaws NO BLADE OF GRASS based on the John Christopher novel also stuck out in my mind due to its bleakness . Here however bleakness seems confined to a family getting there fishing trip ruined for a few days . One can accept the Hays Code being enforced during this period but it doesn't excuse the lack of logic and the excess of right on daddy-o muzak