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Almost everyone knows something about the cataclysmic end to World War II, when U.S. bombers dropped atomic bombs onto populated cities for the first and last time in history. But what came next in the arms race--how we got from those tubby little A-bombs to today's self-propelled intercontinental multiwarhead arsenal--is largely overlooked. This documentary takes the desperate, paranoid timeline of the Atomic Age and generously leavens it with explosive eye candy. Some viewers might find the sensational presentation a bit too close to the vintage exploitation films it mimics--melodramatic narration is provided by
Star Trek's William Shatner and the director's cut includes a mini-documentary on the present-day Nevada Test Site tourist attraction shot entirely in classic 3-D (glasses included). The film's main draw is previously unreleased military footage of full-color monumental destruction, cut against occasionally goofy newsreels and period "educational" films. The heavy soundtrack, combined with endless shots of sand being fused to glass and buildings reduced to dust, tends to drag. But there are a few moments that give an unusually human face to our quest for mass destruction: an interview with aged H-bomb inventor Dr. Edward Teller early in the film, declassified footage of soldiers strapping livestock onto battleships used as floating nuclear test targets, and the haunting closing shots of Chinese cavalrymen charging their gas-masked horses into a rising mushroom cloud.
--Grant Balfour
From the back cover
Witness the incredible history of America's development of nuclear weapons.
Renowned special effects filmmaker Peter Kuran (Star Wars, Star Trek II and V, Robocop, Addams Family) dedicated more than three years to the production of this amazing film, which chronicles the top secret, strange, and visually compelling history of the design, production, and testing of atomic and hydrogen bombs by the United States. In addition to uncovering rare film from top secret government archives, Kuran traveled far and wide to obtain startling footage of nuclear bomb tests conducted by Great Britain and China and the largest atomic explosion ever created by Russia. The quality of the images is remarkable and required the development of a new film restoration system to preserve these haunting images for generations to come.
Narrated by William Shatner, this award-winning production features an original score performed by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and an interview with Dr. Edward Teller, a developer of nuclear weapons and one of the most controversial figures of the 20th century. Whether being exploded under the ocean, suspended by a balloon, being shot from a cannon, or even detonated in space, these weapons are capable of devastating destruction. Trinity and Beyond is an extraordinary production and provides an important understanding of events that changed the world forever.
