[.ca] Manhattan Project (Widescreen/Full Screen)

From Amazon.com:
Directed and cowritten by Woody Allen collaborator Marshall Brickman, this comedy-thriller doesn't seem to know where it wants to go or what it wants to say (other than, obviously, nuclear weapons are scary things). Christopher Collet plays an overachieving high school student who decides to show just how dangerously easy it is to construct a nuclear device. He builds one for his science fair, using his mother's relationship with a government official (John Lithgow) to sneak into a secret facility and steal plutonium. When the feds find out what's going on, they overreact in a brutish showdown that threatens nuclear annihilation of everyone within a 10-mile radius. While the movie makes some antinuke points and features a strong performance by Lithgow, it seems a little too breezy, given what's going on. --Marshall Fine

Preposterous!:
The first half of this movie was interesting...then it got a little silly...then it got downright laughable. A high school kid creates a nuclear bomb that could destroy a city. He enters it into a science fair. Are you still with me? Ok, so the kid's name is all over the news as a nuclear terrorist. The bomb he made (partly out of salad bowls, mind you) could have killed thousands of people. The kid should be sent to prison for life, right? Oh, wait, the kid only wanted to alert the community about a secret government project, so all is forgiven, and his mom gives him a big hug as he walks out of the nuclear facility! It doesn't get more ridiculous than that.

John Lithgow shines in this thrill ride of a movie!:
When "The Manhattan Project" was first released back in 1986, I was still just a little kid back then. But now, I checked out the film at the video store and I thought that it was so entertaining that it would keep you on the edge of your seat from pulse-pounding start to breathtaking finish! As far as the direction is concerned, Marshall Brickman (screenwriter for "Intersection") directed this film with sheer intensity all the way, and that is what I like about films like this. And as far as the performances go, a lot of the credit goes to John Lithgow ("Cliffhanger"), Christopher Collet ("Prayer of the Rollerboys"), and Cynthia Nixon ("Sex and the City") for their excellent performances. The film focuses on an overachieving high school student named Paul Stephens (Collet), who decides to infiltrate a research lab facility to steal a bottle of plutonium from John Mathewson (Lithgow), a government scientist who is dating his mother (Jill Eikenberry, "Arthur"), in order to make a nuclear device for his science fair with the help of his girlfriend Jenny (Nixon). When word gets out about the plutonium being stolen, the military is being called in to investigate, and Paul is really in for the nightmare ride of his life! And, pretty much, the only person who can help Paul is Dr. Mathewson as they put both their lives on the line in order to keep the device from nuclear annihilation of everyone within a 10-mile radius. In closing, this film has it all! A great cast, superb storytelling, and suspense that doesn't let up for a minute make "The Manhattan Project" one of the absolute best and thought-provoking thrillers of 1986! I simply can't wait for the DVD of "The Manhattan Project" to be released!

ITS BEEN A LONG WAIT FOR A TOTAL CLASSIC!!!:
I HAVE CHECKED FOR THIS MOVIE 2,000 TIMES AND I CANT BELEIVE THAT IM READING IT WILL BE RELEASED ON JUNE 4TH.ILL BE THE FIRST IN LINE TO BUY THIS FILM .IT RANKS PROBABLY IN THE TOP 5 MOVIES OFF ALL TIME JUNE 4TH CANT COME FAST ENOUGH IM MORE EXCITED FOR THE RELEASE OF THIS THEN SUMMER ITSELF.DEAD SERIOUS IM EXTATIC ABOUT THIS MOVIE AND NOBODY REMEMBERS IT .TOTAL SHAME BECAUSE ITS AWESOME HOPEFULLY THERE WONT BE ANY DELAYS IN REACHING THE SHELVES LETS PRAY!

Forget the bomb, it's about the characters:
This movie has been a personal favorite since I first saw it on HBO in the 1980s, enough that I bought a copy on Laserdisc, when there still were such things! A generic recipe for any decent movie might run along these lines: Take some interesting and/or sympathetic characters, put them in a situation that challenges them and their attitudes, and see what they do. Here we have the light-hearted high school genius (who stumbles upon a secret nuclear weapons lab in his town, and wonders what to do about it); his socially-conscious political-activist girlfriend; and a government scientist for whom ultra-purification of Plutonium is an abstract, intellectual challenge (until he finds himself in a situation where the end product might kill actual people that he knows). People who dislike this movie generally have a complaint either with its plausibility, or its tone. OK, plausibility first. The weapons lab is "hidden in plain sight." An obvious high security presence would call unwanted attention to it; instead, it is disguised as a medical facility. (When I was in high school, my band teacher had some tape recorders that he used for students to record and listen to themselves in the practice room, etc. He kept these thrown in a big cardboard box, right out in the open, and each unit had scrawled on it: BROKEN. Not a single one was ever stolen. Same strategy here.) And the techniques that our young student hero uses to break into the lab are all well-established earlier in the film, including the fact that he can throw a mean Frisbee. Yes, it requires some suspension of disbelief, but no more so than most other movies. At least an attempt is made to explain the events and make them seem logical. (My one minor peeve: Every time I see this film, I keep telling our young hero on the screen not to hold that unshielded weapons-grade Plutonium so close to his HEAD, but he never listens to me! Oh well.) As far as tone goes, it has been said that this film is too light and cheerful, given its plot elements. One musician friend of mine commented, as we watched young Paul build his device, that "This \ocheery underscoring music\c doesn't sound like Music To Build A Nuclear Bomb By." My response to my friend was: The music is not for the bomb, it is for young Paul! He is having fun building a complex gadget, without any evil or underhanded purpose, and the character of the music represents his frame of mind very nicely. (I should add here that I like the musical score of this film overall, especially the just-mentioned building-the-bomb sequence, and the opening title music, which has just the right undertone of suspense in it.) It seems that even the movie studio is confused by this film's tone. The Laserdisc release had, very cheezily pasted onto the film, a subtitle, making the name "The Manhattan Project: The Deadly Game", presumably to make the film sound darker and scarier. It didn't work. Nor does this film need to be dark and scary to do what it is trying to do. I was very happy to see that the DVD no longer has this lame subtitle. What it comes down to: This film is not about the bomb, it is about the characters and how they react to the unfolding situation. The bomb is merely The Crisis that motivates the film's action. I for one like the characters, and I like the actors portraying them. (In particular, it is refreshing to see John Lithgow playing a friendly character for once, rather than a psychotic wacko, as he does in Cliffhanger, for example.) I also appreciate that young Paul is not portrayed as a geeky, outcast nerd. He is charming, athletic, and not afraid of girls. This sets up some humorous moments when he meets some actual nerds later in the film. (Favorite quote: "Why are you helping us?" "Because life, my dear, is more than freezing toads.") I for one recommend The Manhattan Project. It may not be in the Top Ten Films Of All Time, but I think it deserves a solid four stars. DVD transfer quality seems decent, and is definitely at least as good as the laserdisc version. No extra disc features to speak of, really, just a theatrical trailer. Still worthwhile!

'too many secrets':
Like "real genius" and "wargames", this is a smart, funny, and endearing 80s movie with an important message about the responsibility that comes with intelligence and privelege. In all three movies, we forgive the bright but naive high school kids for their actions (hacking into military computers, building a military laser, building a nucler weapon) because they are ethical human beings who try to do right. Their morality puts into sharp relief the profound immoralities of authoritarian institutions and the cowardice or fear that causes people to participate in them.