Atomica (2017)

In the near future, when communications go offline at a remote nuclear power plant isolated in the desert, a young safety inspector, Abby Dixon, is forced to fly out to bring them back online. Once inside the facility, mysterious clues and strange behaviors cause Abby to have doubts about the sanity, and perhaps identities, of the two employees onsite.

Director:

Dagen Merrill

Writers:

Kevin Burke, Federico Fernandez-Armesto (screenplay)

Stars:

Tom Sizemore, Sarah Habel, Dominic Monaghan

Cast

Cast overview:
Tom Sizemore	...	Zek
Sarah Habel	...	Abby
Dominic Monaghan	...	Robinson
Phil Austin	...	Rhine
Tony Doupe	...	Father
Hahn Cho	...	David
Jennifer Spriggs	...	Margot
Sarah-Eve Gazitt	...	Young Abby

Storyline

In the near future, when communications go offline at a remote nuclear power plant isolated in the desert, a young safety inspector, Abby Dixon, is forced to fly out to bring them back online. Once inside the facility, mysterious clues and strange behaviors cause Abby to have doubts about the sanity, and perhaps identities, of the two employees onsite.

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Plot Keywords:

nuclear power | radiation | insanity | scientist | strong female lead | 

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Taglines:

Trith is Best Kept Off the Grid

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Genres:

Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Many scenes in the movie were filmed in a cold war, 1960s era Titan I underground missile silo in eastern Washington state. In some scenes where the lead character is creating video log entries, a diagram of a Titan I installation appears in the upper right (3 missile silos, 2 satellite silos, and the equipment and operation domes, all connected by tunnels).

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Goofs

In the beginning, when Abby is reviewing the personnel records for Darius Zek, his last name is misspelled: Zekt.

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Crazy Credits

Shortly after the credits roll, there is a 30 second scene showing what happened to the recording device Abby was holding at the end.

User Reviews

Honestly, there's no reason to watch this

I so rarely write reviews, despite watching an awful lot of movies. This one was poor enough that I was motivated to pop down a warning for any who might think 'Ah, I'll give it a go'

I don't mind a low budget approach to SciFi, I can look past less than perfect FX and CGI, I don't even consider bad science a deal-breaker.

Bad writing, bad acting, insanely obvious 'twist' and lack of satisfying dismount, however - that's enough to get me to put finger to keyboard and declare this a real dud. The actress playing Abby was awful, bless her. Though, to be fair, the script was pretty sub-par so she didn't have a lot to work with. Dominic did his best but the shot choices, off-pace editing and, again, poor source material meant his efforts simply came across as hammy. With better direction on all areas, he at least could have salvaged some dignity. Tom Sizemore was barely in it and had little to do.

The premise of the film is not the worst, and in more capable hands could have been at least an entertaining diversion. However, the actual final result looks like a rushed, b-grade (at best) made for TV gap filler for when the decent shows are on hiatus. SyFy has shown what they are capable of with The Expanse (among others). This was simply not a good movie on any level.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 March 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Half Life

Filming Locations:

Moses Lake, Washington, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lifeboat Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1