TRINITY AND BEYOND: THE ATOMIC BOMB MOVIE

It is impossible to divorce TRINITY AND BEYOND from filmmaker Peter Kuran's career as a special-effects artist on epics like “The Empire Strikes Back,” “Total Recall,” and “The Abyss.” With a frighteningly prophetic 1914 quote by H.G. Wells at the beginning, and newsreels that recall imagery from “Terminator 2” and “Independence Day,” Kuran brings science fiction's sense of awe and wonder to a stunning, factual chronicle of the development of nuclear weapons, from the Manhattan Project's “uranium gun” which ended WWII, to the later apocalyptic Operations Sandstone, Ivy, Bravo, and Redwing. Kuran, in true Agents-Scully-and-Mulder fashion, unearths other worldly Department of Defense footage, some declassified for the first time, restored to vibrant color by his own process. Behold kilotons yielding to megatons, the mightiest atomic explosion ever (triggered by a Soviet device), marvel at days when the Earth stood still, see nuke blasts in space (where no one can hear you scream), and perhaps be afraid. Be very afraid. The Bomb is out there. – Charles Cassady