This is a story about the end of the world. It takes two hours to get there but when it comes its quite spectacular.
This is the story of two superpowers speeding toward war. In the middle are the Japanese and the people who live in Japan. We watch as the impending doom affects the lives of several regular Japanese, and we watch as the troops in the bunkers prepare to send their missiles.
Its sad its maudlin and its very dated. Special effects aside the film when dealing with the military looks all wrong, the fake superpowers are distracting. The fact that both superpowers speak in often oddly accented English distracts from the film, as does the fact that what they say is basically stilted discussion of the wisdom of war.
I can imagine that this film once rocked peoples world, in particular in the full 110 minute version, but now it remains as a talky, dated film about the end of the world. I'm not certain its worth seeing because it is so soapy and stilted, whoever it is important in that this film very graphically shows what will be left after the bombs drop, nothing, nothing but black ruins and dead bodies.
As a film 5 out of 10, as a warning 10 out of 10.
PS- If you want to see the bombs drop its about 100 minutes in