Sorry, this movie sucks

good back-story, and good acting

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

It didn't take me long after 'Highlander' to see that director Russell Mulcahy had struck lucky in creating one of my favourite movies of all time. I've really not been a fan of his, so watching 'On The Beach' was a bit of a strange experience. Thankfully, it was filled with just enough originality and reasons to be liked for me to go the distance with it! Firstly, and most importantly to those looking for a thrill, this is not your movie. It's entirely character driven with a smattering of symbolism and it might be a bit too emotional for the action movie crowd. It's a show with an anti-nuclear message.That being said, Mulcahy did infinitely more with $10 million than 'Blair Witch Project' did with $15 million in the same year and much of that comes down to the efforts and chemistry of the cast. That is a testament to the effort put into this production, though, as you really have to wonder; random camcorders and camping in the woods cost $5 million more than a submarine, a cast of international actors and a soundtrack? How? Moving on, I've never seen Armand Assante take the lead and now I'm looking to see what of his I can watch next. He was captivating from start to finish, taking up his character's mantle as though he'd been in the navy all his life. As for more tender and emotional scenes, it's quite endearing to watch such a gruff and edgy man portray all that he did. He carries much of the movie, but sometimes it's rushed outcome overshadows him.Bryan Brown suffers an impatient or rushed cinematographer, not to mention a script that needed reigning in, whereas Rachel Ward and Grant Bowler came across as very natural and understated until it really counts.As for any action, unfortunately it's the edgier scenes that Mulcahy was better known for that he consistently failed at. It really made me wonder what happened to him as a director because how could he mature as a dramatic director and then becomes so bad at what made him famous? All faults aside (including some horrendous editing), it's still a good effort and after all is said and done, if this TV movie and its culminating scenes don't blow your mind and leave you chilled to the bone, then I fear for the future. I think you have to want the message in order to want the film in this case!

What can I say about this superb production that has not already been said ? The acting was superb, the direction was superb, the sad scenes, particularly at the end with a married couple having put their baby to sleep via injection, take a suicide tablet with a few words to each other, and a kiss, and then they lie on the bed to die, will have grown men weeping.I am in tears remembering this scene more than any other, as I write.Some people may find this film depressing, my wife and I just found it very sad, but ultimately a brilliant well put together movie.This is a long film, you get to know the sailors and everybody else, all good characters from all walks of life.It boils down to the "powers that be" finally cock it up for all of us, the power mad are no longer in control, what they had control of has gone.Somehow I don't think it could ever happen, but this films shows human being at their worst, and their best, if it did.If you watch this movie, have your friends and family round to watch it with you, it will make everybody weep, and provoke discussion.

Blame the author of the book I guess but I don't see any point whatsoever to this film. The human race dies in a nuclear war, most presumably in horrid flames, but we see it from the viewpoint of neat and tidy deaths of affluent suburbanites. Three hours to tell you what I could say in a few seconds, if there is a big nuclear war we would all suffer and die. The makers of this film chose to illustrate this point with a slow and tedious bomb of their own. The final moment is the greatest insult of all. The author envisioned the triumph of love over all else, but I see instead the refusal of the protagonist to acknowledge humanity from any motivation short of its' destruction.

It seems that a review of this teleplay is inevitably going to take the form of a comparison with the 1959 film of which it's a remake! So let me start out by saying: I don't agree with some of the reviewers at this site, who say it's a simple case of the remake being superior to the original, period. Both versions have their high points and both versions misadapt this or that detail from Nevil Shute's novel. If you have the time, the two versions are best seen in succession. And by all means read the novel.The most glaring fault of both versions are their violation of the character of Commander Towers, especially on the occasion of his fishing trip with Moira, the lady he has been companionating with during his Australian mission. Novelist Shute's submarine captain remains faithful to his wife, even though she's obviously dead along with everybody else in the northern hemisphere, and he registers himself and Moira in separate rooms at the fishing lodge. Why does he feel this way? Because he chooses to believe his wife is still alive, along with his family, in their cozy Connecticut home which is in reality an uninhabitable wilderness of radioactive crud. Moira, a somewhat vulnerable woman in need of affection, is somewhat hurt, but she respects Towers' feelings. And thanks to Shute's way of telling the story, we know that without his irrational belief that he's "going home when all this is over", the commander would not be such a source of strength to his crew and to the Australians he's lending his services to. Neurotic as his belief may seem, it's sensible because it works. And he's not pretending, he believes it--even when he finally takes his sub out to sink her with all hands, he brings along the presents he bought for his family in Connecticut. And he sure as anything isn't going to cheat on his wife.But the director of the 1959 version, Stanley Kramer, stupidly insisted that the film must "have some sex" and that no viewer would find Towers' restraint believable. Consequently, the film makes it clear that Towers and Moira do consummate their relationship. Gregory Peck argued with Kramer, and told him how wrong he was, but to no avail. Consequently, novelist Shute hated the film, and we too should hate this particular violation of Shute's concept. Particularly because the 2000 version made the same change, by default.The merit of the 2000 version is that it goes much more deeply into the characters and their motivations. It also updates the story, and I think Shute would approve of that, because the danger of nuclear Armageddon is actually much greater nowadays than it was in 1959, due to the increasing proliferation of these weapons, the instability of the world situation, and the irrationally warlike nature of the present U.S. leadership. The updating of the story helps to underscore the fact that the nuclear danger has increased. ** spoiler ahead **But the more recent TV version also contains extra badness, of which the most glaring example is the change in the ending. There is after all a reason why Shute's story must end with Moira standing at the headland, watching the submarine disappear into the mists for the last time, unable to share her last moments with her companion: "This is the way the world ends." I can't imagine why a conclusion so poignant - and in terms of the logic of the story, so inevitable - was replaced by a silly portrayal of a fantasy of Moira's, in which Towers fails to do his duty and deserts his ship and crew to return to her. Were the makers of this version afraid that using the real ending would make people think it too derivative of the 1959 film? I can't imagine.We certainly need a third version, one that will show Towers caught between his alternative reality (remaining loyal to his wife) and Moira.