Fail Safe
Fail Safe
A series of human and computer errors sends a squadron of American 'Vindicator' bombers to nuke Moscow. The President, in order to convince the Soviets that this is a mistake, orders the Strategic Air Command to help the Soviets stop them.
Kevin Ward reviewedJuly 2, 2025
Really loved this. Cold War thriller that imagines a scenario where the fail safe mechanisms of nuclear warfare breakdown and the worst case scenarios play out and no one has any power to stop it. It’s a tense thriller where the tension has been ramped up by its minimalist production and score. Though a product of its time, it’s hard not to see how fail safe could speak into the present, particularly the use of artificial intelligence. The prescient fear of the consequence of relegating world altering decisions and safeguards to artificial mechanisms, while we sit on the sidelines watching our own doom play out on computer monitors, powerless to alter our trajectory. Dark stuff and a fantastically dark ending. Released in the same year as Dr. Strangelove, this is a fantastic companion piece from the brilliant Sidney Lumet. Highly recommend.