Common Sense Media Review
By Tom Cassidy
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Japanese disaster movie is true, inspiring, and very tense.
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Fukushima 50
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In the true story of FUKUSHIMA 50, an earthquake sets off a mega-tsunami that devastates a nuclear power plant. Its brave workers stay at the plant to try to avoid a disaster that could wipe out Japan's entire east coast.
Is It Any Good?
A solid disaster movie that is made all the more enthralling and interesting due to it being a true story. By no means the whole picture, Fukushima 50 manages in two hours to successfully balance the necessity of getting across some heavy science and technical details with edge-of-your-seat disaster movie action and characters you quickly care about. The vast, world-changing stakes are always present and sit well alongside the quiet character moments that project the human side of these extraordinary events. The standouts are Ken Watanabe's plant chief in the control room and Koichi Sato leading his team of engineers on "suicide squad" missions to cool the reactors. But everyone turns out solid performances throughout.
With nuclear disaster being thankfully rare, there's an otherworldly terror to this movie. When a small team is in a pitch black corridor with just a torch, the Geiger counter is like the motion tracker in Aliens, with the threat just as uncaring and lethal. Other times, with characters pushing their rattly failed technology to the limits to avoid certain death, the drama recalls the likes of First Man and Apollo 13. Impossible to watch without wanting to know more, Fukushima 50 is a great starting point for understanding what happened in Japan in 2011 -- the effects that are still felt today -- and reopening discussion about nuclear power.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the fact that Fukushima 50 is based on a true story. Did you know about the events in Japan in 2011 before watching this movie? Why do you think the events from the movie remain important and relevant today?
Do you think the people who stayed behind to help were heroes or just doing their job? How did they demonstrate teamwork, perseverance, and courage? Why are these such important character strengths to have?
Did you find the movie scary? Did the fact that film was based on a true story make it more or less tense? Did it remind you of any other movies you have seen?
Discuss the concept of nuclear power. Do the risks outweigh the benefits? What do you think the movie means when it says the disaster was caused by humans not respecting nature? Are there any ways to create power that can respect nature?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : July 30, 2020
- Cast : Ken Watanabe , Takumi Saitoh , Tomoro Taguchi
- Director : Setsuro Wakamatsu
- Inclusion Information : Asian Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : MPI Home Video
- Genre : Drama
- Topics : History
- Character Strengths : Courage , Perseverance , Teamwork
- Run time : 122 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : September 29, 2025
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