The Manhattan Project is an intriguing movie about Paul, a tech savvy boy who manages to steal plutonium from a local fuel fabrication laboratory and build himself a nuclear bomb in order to win a local science fair, and to blow the cover from the plant producing the dangerous substance.

The movie is made very much in the vein of WarGames, and if you liked that one, chances are that you’ll find things to love here as well.

The biggest drawback is that the movie feels like a first or second draft and really could’ve used one or two iterative rewrites to weed out all the illogicalities and even out the wrinkles. I’m not going to start with all the technical inaccuracies as they go with the artistic freedom, but I sure would’ve liked to hear a little bit better reasonings why Paul decides to go to the science fair of all the places. Or why does he insist on walking into the lion’s den towards the end of the movie instead of going to the press or sending them a video clearing things up. For a smart boy Paul surely makes a lot of bad moves that aren’t really explained anywhere along the way like they were in WarGames. And if The Manhattan Project pretends to be a smart movie for smart people, it really should’ve been more consistent here.

Although the movie takes some liberties with its subject, the technical insight and interest in the science is solid. During the science fair we see Roland, the science class arch rival of Paul describing what would become internet a few years later, and a friend of his having cultured insects for protein rich human consumables – a trend we all know has become a reality since.

80s-o-meter: 83%

Total: 67%