It didn't take me long after 'Highlander' to see that director Russell Mulcahy had struck lucky in creating one of my favourite movies of all time. I've really not been a fan of his, so watching 'On The Beach' was a bit of a strange experience. Thankfully, it was filled with just enough originality and reasons to be liked for me to go the distance with it! Firstly, and most importantly to those looking for a thrill, this is not your movie. It's entirely character driven with a smattering of symbolism and it might be a bit too emotional for the action movie crowd. It's a show with an anti-nuclear message.That being said, Mulcahy did infinitely more with $10 million than 'Blair Witch Project' did with $15 million in the same year and much of that comes down to the efforts and chemistry of the cast. That is a testament to the effort put into this production, though, as you really have to wonder; random camcorders and camping in the woods cost $5 million more than a submarine, a cast of international actors and a soundtrack? How? Moving on, I've never seen Armand Assante take the lead and now I'm looking to see what of his I can watch next. He was captivating from start to finish, taking up his character's mantle as though he'd been in the navy all his life. As for more tender and emotional scenes, it's quite endearing to watch such a gruff and edgy man portray all that he did. He carries much of the movie, but sometimes it's rushed outcome overshadows him.Bryan Brown suffers an impatient or rushed cinematographer, not to mention a script that needed reigning in, whereas Rachel Ward and Grant Bowler came across as very natural and understated until it really counts.As for any action, unfortunately it's the edgier scenes that Mulcahy was better known for that he consistently failed at. It really made me wonder what happened to him as a director because how could he mature as a dramatic director and then becomes so bad at what made him famous? All faults aside (including some horrendous editing), it's still a good effort and after all is said and done, if this TV movie and its culminating scenes don't blow your mind and leave you chilled to the bone, then I fear for the future. I think you have to want the message in order to want the film in this case!

Blame the author of the book I guess but I don't see any point whatsoever to this film. The human race dies in a nuclear war, most presumably in horrid flames, but we see it from the viewpoint of neat and tidy deaths of affluent suburbanites. Three hours to tell you what I could say in a few seconds, if there is a big nuclear war we would all suffer and die. The makers of this film chose to illustrate this point with a slow and tedious bomb of their own. The final moment is the greatest insult of all. The author envisioned the triumph of love over all else, but I see instead the refusal of the protagonist to acknowledge humanity from any motivation short of its' destruction.

This is simply brilliant. It shows you the futility of war and that the weapons that were made to protect us will eventually destroy us.The scene at the end of the Holmes family dying together is one of the most heartbreaking scenes I have ever seen. I was in tears by the end of it. It really tugs at your heart and by the end you hope to God that nothing like this ever happens.If after watching this movie, you think that this could never happen then think again. This scenario is very real and the threat of a nuclear apocalypse hangs over us all every single day. All it takes is for one lunatic politician to push the trigger and then the world will descend into chaos.If everyone in the world watched this, they would all cry out to rid the world of not only nuclear weapons but all weapons and to stop fighting each other.A must see.

It is incredible how the novel by Nevil Shute has been corrupted and all power sapped from it's message. Subtlety, character, and the sense of hopelessness and horror are replaced by incredibly bad acting (sometimes just downright weird acting), questionable special effects, lots of corpses, and a plot that simply lacks sense. The novel still haunts me, the original film devastated me and gave me nightmares. This production was simply irritating, unnecessarily long, and populated by people I just could not care about. The issue of suicide seems to ignored completely and replaced by a passivity that's odd in the extreme. I suggest a reading of the Shute masterpiece and a viewing of the original film (seen in the context of the times, when nuclear war was all to real a threat and left many of us with nightmares about the horrible possibility.) This film is a travesty and a morbid curiosity at best. It lacks the powerful message and empathy of the intent of the author and producer of the source material.