This is a great film that accurately shows the portrayal of a news reporter and life inside a nuclear power plant.
Accidentally on purpose, during a tour of Ventana Power Plant, cameraman Richard Adams (Michael Douglas) films an incident while TV journalist Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda) watches in horror as the men inside develop looks of sheer terror as they click buttons around to abate the situation. However, the film Richard has captured is illegal so instead he steals it to get to the bottom of things. And learns that there was almost a nuclear meltdown which could have killed countless lives including their own. It isn't until Kimberly point-blank asks shift supervisor Jack Godell (Jack Lemmon) if anyone was in danger when he realizes that the vibrations felt earlier where indeed super bad, one of the towers needs to be shut down and probably rebuilt but naturally, this can't happen. A new plant is about to open so they rush through the investigation and don't heed their employees' concerns; they sabotage the doctored x-rays, nearly killing a man in the process which forces Jack to take extreme measures but the plant owners do to, cutting the power, breaking through the locked doors and shooting Jack from behind, we just have to hope that the truth gets out.
While the high stacks at the end are a bit unrealistic unlike the slow burn of Silkwood, this film nevertheless is smartly written and brilliantly acted with Fonda and Lemmon both fully deserving of their Oscar nominations, with each expression clearly etched in their face as the film progresses along. Grade: B+
Side Notes:
-A good side plot is Kimberly's career, where she's relegated to the fluff pieces because she's nothing more than eye candy to the viewers and she is incredibly popular and a good boost to ratings. Hopefully after this tragic incident, she will finally be taken seriously with her career.
-Kimberly also owns a turtle, who bizarrely just roams freely around her house which is a little odd.
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