Trinity and Beyond

A review by Mike Shea Movie Rating: ( * * * * · ) DVD Rating: ( * * * * · )

I don't normally review documentaries manly because I don't watch them, but in my increasing age I find myself cursing much more at the young kids on MTV's Real World (God I hate them) and drifting more and more to the history channel when it does a two hour special on the B-17 during World War 2. Trinity was recommended by a friend along with a subwoofer upgrade and I was especially excited when it came with a pair of 3D glasses. Not the new glasses that work without giving you a seizure but the good old red and blue ones. So after chasing my cat around the apartment for a while screaming "3D kitty!" I decided I would actually stick in the disc and watch stuff blow up. Well, the 3D portion was only about 15 minutes which is probably all they were allowed to put on considering I couldn't focus for half an hour after taking off those now very uncool 3D glasses. But then the main feature started to settle in. Bill "Kiss the green woman" Shatner narrates this film which covers nuclear testing from 1944 to the signing of the limited test ban treaty in the 60s. The sheer footage of the 300 some blasts is wonderful and horrific to watch. It also gives you a great feeling of scope as they go from the single kiloton blasts up to the 56 megaton blast that the Russians detonated. The documentary is very informative and covers all I expected it to. I didn't get bored and I truly learned a lot about the climb of the nuclear race. The end has some horrific footage of a Chinese test where all the soldiers rush in right after a blast, giving that conclusion that in the beginning of the nuclear race we were using them to end a war and now we see them being used to start one. Truly scary. The DVD is shot in 1.33 to 1 with a 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack that does give quite an oomph. Quite an interesting disc and quite an interesting tail. Ah well, I think the MTV Road Rules marathon is starting so it is time to grab my TV and my magnum.