The China Syndrome, 1979

It was interesting to see this film again after so many years, given all that has transpired in America since then in terms of corporate corruption & coverup. I don't want to be too harsh as I feel this was a seminal film, but can't help thinking of other works of the genre with better writing: The Insider, The Fugitive, Norma Rae, Michael Clayton, etc. The script started out very strong & the pace was gripping. But the writing became sloppy towards the end, beginning with Hector's fatal drive. The chase sequence & accident were just too bad-Hollywood, especially in contrast to the events leading up to it. But the most frustrating part of the script for me was when Wells (Fonda) was sitting in the control room with Lemmon's character as that fateful hour wound down, without thinking to audiotape his testimony or using her mobile phone (she mentions she has one)to call his statement in to the station in case things went awry later. Or at the very least, spending that time helping him focus & get clear about what he was going to say on camera to prevent that insanely confused prattling later. Instead, she offers him coffee and gets teary. And why would Adams have to leave the building to "get" the other press crews instead of just calling them, focusing on getting his gear and the interview set up? And that maddening sound-check, which again, could have been done before. Aagh! I know it was all meant to build suspense, but it just didn't make sense given how "on it" they all were up to that point. All 3 of these characters were too sharp & cynical to believe that the company would give up that easily and not sabotage the press conference. It was just uncharacteristic of them to make so many bad decisions *simultaneously* & naively squandering that precious hour. Still... definitely an important film and good enough to watch more than once. ~NN

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