Critics reviews

Though Dr. Strangelove was the work of surgical, precise, brilliant filmmaking, Kubrick knew it too well—and couldn't help but broadcast his genius with every composition and cut. With Lumet you get a more levelheaded, unpretentious buildup, which makes the flourishes all the more hard-hitting—such as a climax that suddenly breaks the studio-bound claustrophobia to show the startling authenticity of New York streets, and freeze-framed civilians quite oblivious to the pending doom.

Kubrickian parody was one inspired response to the absurdity of dual civilizations on the brink of mutual destruction, but Lumet and screenwriter Walter Bernstein's insights into the ideological horrors of the nuclear age run deeper... So dark a movie would seem an odd choice for a weekend matinee, but FAIL-SAFE is utterly devastating and oddly life-affirming in equal measure. It's a largely overlooked but critical piece of American mythology.