Chernobyl

A formulaic Chernobyl-themed popcorn movie with heavy doses of nationalism, sentimentality and historical inaccuracy that doesn't try or wants to answer the big questions and instead focuses on a sentimental romance and tedious heroic dramatizations. However, if there's one good thing about it, it's Oksana Akinshina's great performance that shouldn't go unnoticed.

No spoilers here, but if you want to watch a movie about Chernobyl.. don't waste your time. Every event, and the timeline itself, is fabricated. There's not an ounce of historical truth here, but plenty of made up drama. Skip, and watch the vastly, vastly superior HBO Series.

Now I think it is safe to say, that after the HBO drama, there had to be a response or a movie that tried to show things ... a bit differently. Do not try to compare the series with this if you can. The movie will lose out for sure.

Politics are thrown out (mostly, maybe if you are good willing you are able to see some small references) and it is all about the personal journey of 3 main characters - a "family" of sorts. Now I do not know what they were based on and I read there are many things that are anything but accurate. Having said that, if you suspend your disbelief and go with the flow you'll be able to enjoy the movie.

Well enjoy may be too strong of a word. There is enough tension from start to finish - although it does take a few moments ... or an introduction to the characters before it goes on. There are quite a few things that bugged me, but overall the movie worked and I was there with the characters. Again, it will depend how willing you are to suspend your disbelief ... otherwise you may not want to watch this at all.

Avoid (not even worth writing more than this).

Pointless.

I am not going to compare it with the HBO series. Taking the movie as it is, it's horribly bad, from so many points of view. Plot, layout, historical accuracy, characters and so on. It's all a big cliche of a movie that fails to deliver the message that the director really wanted to send. The movie makes you feel nothing, not only about the main characters but also about the whole Chernobyl disaster. How can you take such a horrible event and transform it in to a boring story that makes you feel nothing. If you want to watch it, know you'll waste your time. This movie has NOTHING to offer.