User Reviews

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

No frills or stupid extensions to the series. Just a story that seems totally believable. Is that too much to ask?

Great Mini series with a gripping plot. Adds a lot of context to historical events if you aren’t familiar with the disaster. Some events are changed for story telling purposes which is where I dock a couple points off. But after multiple watches I’d highly recommend. and that one danish guy are really good. Also I like grovelling soviets even though I wouldn’t want to be actual friends with any of them. The attention to detail is superb. Added points for full **** on display.

A really good short tv-drama about the Chernobyl accident. I think it probably deserves some of the criticism it got for portraying nuclear energy in a similar light as the oil&gas lobby has been for decades as well, which is unfortunate.

This is my favroite tv show. In my opinion, there is not a single down minute of the show or a time where I thought I wanted to turn this show off, or this could was not needed in the show. I don't think there will ever be a "perfect" show, but these 5 episodes of TV are the closest that I think we will ever come to a perfect show.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

It is hard to put into words how utterly important this show is, on a multitude of reasons. There are few exceptional shows, even fewer that get better as you progress through the five episodes, but improve upon rewatching it. - No other show in my mind, whether it be, Breaking Bad, Stranger Things, or The Wire could ever top this miniseries. Chernobyl manages to tell the story of the worst nuclear disaster in history and perhaps the best documented case of absolute mismanagement by government oversight ever seen. All brought together with brilliant acting, exceptional writing, and gorgeous cinematography. This show keeps improving as if it a concert with multiple encores and each time it improves. The people who do complain about the show often point about how the actors are not doing a Russian accent or it is not 100% historically accurate, and those people are trying to find fault where there is none. So what if the actors aren’t doing an accent, they are giving a performance so magnanimous it doesn’t pull you out of the immersion. On historical accuracy, it is pretty damn close and even so if a story was 100% historically accurate it’d be hard to watch and digest. This is the greatest mini-series I have ever seen, and if you have yet to watch it, that is a disservice to your own enjoyment.

HBO "Chernobyl" is a dark FANTASY tv show, based on real even, but what you see on screen is a fantasy of producers from HBO, and nothing more

Kararında, güzel bir yapım diye düşünüyorum. Tek solukta izlenebilecek bir dizi. Herkese tavsiye ederim.

Chernobyl is straight-up intense. This show doesn’t pull punches—it’s grim, it’s raw, and it hits like a truck. From episode one, it just drags you into this nightmare and does not let go. The way they show the disaster going down? Wild. You can literally feel the panic and hopelessness.

The way they filmed everythingis amazing. One of The best tv shows I ever seen. Perfectly amazing. Idon't have anything to say bad about this one.

What a magnificent TV show! This TV show masterfully shows us the history and events of the tragic Chernobyl accident. As the scenes pass, it is possible to feel different things, fear, sadness and joy when something positive happens.I highly recommend watching Chernobyl and trying to compare the characters on the TV show with the real people involved in Chernobyl.

Chernobyl. What is the price of lying? This is an amazing drama based on the real events of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. By chronicling a terrible disaster and the heroic actions of people, the series evokes deep emotions and makes you think about the consequences of nuclear energy. Excellent performances by the actors, an atmospheric plot and a gloomy setting create an atmosphere of incredible tension and horror. The series not only tells about Chernobyl, it amazes with the depth of the characters’ characters, their resilience and heroism in the most difficult conditions. Watching Chernobyl, the viewer is immersed in an atmosphere of fear, despair and hope, and ultimately leaves with a lesson about the importance of human solidarity and the nightmares that can lead to short-mindedness and carelessness. Chernobyl is a series that resonated deeply with viewers and remains not only a work of art, but also an important lesson about the memory and dangers of nuclear power.

As the epilogue in the final episode suggests, the events are dramatized for television, but dramatized or not the circumstances surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear incident of 1986 make for an intriguing watch.

Easily the best series of all time about the Chernobyl Disaster. Highly Entertaining and detailed also bonus points for using the real names of the people involved in the disaster.

Surreal como esse mini-seriado é bom. Mostrou de forma impecável a incompetência que levou o acidente em Chernobyl e suas consequências catrastoficas pra quem vivia naquela pacata cidade.

I would highly recommend watching this miniseries. It definitely kept me drawn in the whole time.

My favorite miniseries. One of the best on screen depictions of a disaster.

É uma série que choca demais, o pior é saber que uma desgraça dessas não é ficção que realmente os cara fez aquilo acontecer, faz você pensar sobre muitas questões e com certeza mudou minha visão sobre a União Soviética.

Absolutely riveting!

To me the 2nd best, closely that is to say, after Breaking Bad.

This TV show was exceptional and very good for just the story and picture , simple without the blockbuster films effects that elude you usually ...

Master piece

Best story, best script, best setting. You can't miss it. Good HBO, Good HBO

Chernobyl uses body horror, scientific thinking, and the overbearing censorship of 1980s Soviet Russia to thoroughly and mightily reassess one of the biggest and worst disasters of the 20th century. Full review here: ****/3MayUj

This tough matter of fact dramatisation of the events of the Chernobyl disaster doesn't shy away from the morbid details of the effects of extremely high radiation sickness. The visual effects, cast, writing and production value are exceptional. Cinematography and soundtrack give weight to its serious tone and I must commend the decision to allow the actors to use their own English accents rather than force a 'russian-glish' versioning of it. It's tough to watch due to the tragic nature of what happens but the incredible bravery of the men who worked to clear the aftermath is very moving to watch. As a TV production it is exceptionally well made.

An incredible series that I would say is a must watch. Deviates slightly at times from the exact events that took place but overall excellently captures the importance of this disaster.

No sé si haya una mini serie mejor que esta, es lo mejor que he visto, escenas impactantes, crueles y nostálgicas, la amo.

The greatest miniseries ever made that's equally fascinating and horrifying to watch.

A true masterpiece and for some reason even better the second time I watched it. the only negative thing I have to say about it are the accents are a little strange for being Ukrainan and Russian characters

An insanely good show. Superb acting and a compelling story, you must watch it. It showcases the Worst and Best of Humanity brilliantly!

A disaster that could have been prevented is unleashed in slow and gripping detail.

A masterpiece, a show done to reach perfection. Scenery, the story, the tension, the casting, and everything else is brilliant. Also, I really like how the series is just 5 episodes. Generally speaking, series are way too long (Walking Dead) or too short (Game of Thrones) for the need of the series. But Chernobyl has the exact right number of episodes that it needs.

Let's start with the fact that I live in Ukraine, and I have known about Chernobyl since I was 10 years old. Well, what can I hide, in case of special need I have the opportunity to get there as a tourist, or even illegally. Therefore, my assessment will consist of personal experience and how it was shown on our screens. I would like to highlight the style of the film, it most of all resembles the recently released Joker, which almost everyone really liked, so everything that is connected with the transfer of those times and the atmosphere is implemented on 10/10. But there are also drawbacks - the pathos of the speeches that the characters make, I understand that this is done to maintain tone, and in order to remind that this is a film. And it is surprising that pathos is so rare here that it can only be noticed in episode 4, where there is clearly going overboard with it. Chernobyl is a small town built to support the life of a nuclear power plant, to make it easier for workers to get to work, and if something happens to prevent the disaster that overtook us. So in the film, this moment is very well shown, this is a town that does not stand out in anything, and they don't talk much about it, but the people who lived there tell a lot about them. For the sake of a quiet life, they jumped into fire and water, and most died, but they did not want themselves, they knew that it would be better for everyone. Therefore, they can easily be called real heroes, it is a pity that now there are few such people. The actors - they were wonderful, I almost never doubted that they were real Russians, despite the fact that they spoke English. It is a pity, of course, that the duration of the series is only 5 episodes, I would like more of this masterpiece, it could have been stretched, but then such a magnificent picture would not have come out. And if it did, I would be very glad that I live at the same time with such talented directors.

Globalement une très bonne minisérie : prenante, super direction photo, correctement documentée, bien montée, poignante... Un régal, si vous n'avez pas un besoin maladif de regarder des séries ou films gentillets et pétris de bonnes intentions.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Terrifying and sobering – as exceptional a piece of television narrative as you're ever likely to see Created, written, and executive produced by Craig Mazin, Chernobyl is directed by Johan Renck as part-horror movie, part-cautionary tale, and part-political treatise. It presents a terrifying, nightmare vision of how bad things can get when hard scientific facts are made subservient to political agendas, and governments strive to undermine not only scientific expertise but the very nature of truth itself (the Soviet Union was a big fan of "alternative facts" long before the GOP). Chernobyl begins and ends by asking the viewer to ponder the cost of cumulative nation-wide lies. However, it's just as interested in celebrating the heroes as it is assigning blame. April 26, 1986, 1:23am; near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR, Reactor No. 4 at the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Nuclear Power Plant explodes, sending out masses of radioactive material. As the Central Committee tries to keep a lid on things, a commission is assembled to investigate the disaster. The commission's head is Boris Shcherbina (a career-best performance from Stellan Skarsgård), Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and a devout party-man. The commission's scientific expert is Valery Legasov (a mesmerising Jared Harris), deputy director of the Kurchatov Institute, who immediately realises that the accident is much more serious than the government are saying. Thematically, Chernobyl is not subtle. The opening line is "What is the cost of lies?", and this issue is front and centre for the entire five episodes. The show presents the Soviet Union as a place where lying and statecraft were one and the same, and in so doing, it illustrates what can happen when institutions of government put political ideology above objective facts, when egotistical politicians disregard everything that experts are telling them in favour of their own ill-informed theories (sound familiar?). The first episode in particular gives us some fine illustrations of a system obsessed with committees, bureaucracy, and secrecy, all built upon an unnecessarily complicated and rigid hierarchy. However, if there's an overriding mindset amongst the Soviet people, it's a sense of civic duty, borne **** belief in socialism and total trust in the Central Committee. Not all characters share this trust, but enough of them do to make it a trope. And for the most part, the show presents this sense of duty to the State as deeply honourable, worthy **** deal of respect. How the State elicits, manipulates and exploits these feelings is being criticised, not the feelings themselves – a vital distinction. Aesthetically, Chernobyl opens with the explosion, throwing the audience into the chaos and confusion. However, rather than placing us in the control room at the moment of the explosion, we see it through the closed window of a character who doesn't even notice it happening until the shockwave hits a couple of seconds later. It's a wholly unexpected way to begin, presenting a massive real-life disaster not from the perspective of spectacle, but from a subjective human perspective. This immediately sets up the show's interest in people. The helicopter crash seen in the trailer is shot the same way - focusing on human reactions to the crash rather than the crash itself. As for the cinematography generally, Jakob Ihre shoots everything unfussily, with no real visual gymnastics. However, there are still moments of stark beauty and great artistry. The second episode ends with a dialogueless scene that Michael Mann would be proud of and also features perhaps the single most extraordinary shot in the series – a high elevation shot of Pripyat looking down at the residents being evacuated onto a fleet of buses. In the background, the power plant can be seen still burning, whilst the people and the plant are bifurcated by the flats in which they used to live. This is as good an example of thematic photography as you're likely to find. As for problems, well, the characters are a little too black and white – the 'good' characters are practically saintly, and the 'bad' characters are almost pure evil. And there's not a lot of ground in between. At its core, the show is most interested in what happens when governments stop listening to science, when every smart person in the room is telling a leader one thing, and he or she decides to ignore it based on nothing other than ideology or ego (and yes, Trump's attitude to the ever-worsening global climate crisis is very much the target). An exceptional piece of television in pretty much every way, Chernobyl is as terrifying as it is compelling, as heartbreaking as it is eye-opening. And all of this is not even to mention the dogs. I'm just not ready to talk about the dogs.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

The Chernobyl theme is simply cool, so it's no wonder that various documentaries are being made about it, in this case a series that is excellent. He has a catchy story with a great plot, which I don't even have to explain, if you know at least a little bit what happened in Chernobyl. The series, although it has only 5 episodes, managed to summarize perhaps everything he had. In short, an excellent series with a luxurious atmosphere and a great story that you should see.

المسلسل مبني على أحداث كارثة انفجار احد نواة المفاعل النووي الروسي بعام 1986... مجرد خمس حلقات لكنها حلقات جدا قوية وعلمية تعطيك معلومات فعلية وحقيقة عن المفاعل النووي وعن الاحداث اللي صارت وقتها بالإضافة تخليك تعيش جو الكارثة والضغط اللي كانوا العلماء والاشخاص تحته في ذلك الوقت وحجم التضحيات اللي اضطروا انهم يتخذونها سواء على مستوى الأفراد اللي خسروا كل ماعندهم او على مستوى العلماء وذلك لمنع كارثة اكبر من انها تحصل... شي جدا مهم ممكن تستفيدة من المسلسل أن بعض الأمور بالحياة هي خارج سيطرة الإنسان وفي أوقات الإنسان يواجه مشاكل هي أكبر من حجمة! المسلسل جبار بمعنى الكلمة وانصحكم تشوفونه ما راح يطول معاكم وبنفس الوقت راح يعجبكم.

If you haven't watched this mini series yet, do it! It's a masterpiece! They found the perfect balance between realism, drama, etc. All the actors are fantastic during the entire show, very convincing performances all around. Thank you for this jewel.

"Полуправда опаснее лжи; ложь легче распознать, чем полуправду, которая обычно маскируется, чтобы обманывать вдвойне." - Теодор Готлиб фон Гиппель. Сериал оскорбление памяти о ликвидаторах аварии Чернобыльской АЭС и полон антисоветской пропаганды и лжи с добавлением реальных фактов. Ликвидаторов, ученых, правительство выставляют идиотами и дегенератами. Ведь показывать как было скучно, пусть солдаты пиют водку во время сухово закона, путь в 2 часа ночи на пожар смотрят толпы народа, пусть населения Припяти не хотят эвакуировать, путь никто не хочет добровольно устранять последствия аварии. Сценаристам плевать что было не так, они же хотят показать ужасы СССР.

Watching "Chernobyl" is like getting radiation sickness. It gets under your skin and you don't realize it until its too late. The series is absolutely outstanding. It is so immersive it could be a documentary except for the recognizable actors. One of the most enthralling intense mini-series in ages.

**** flawless. Excellent cinematography. Every moment had me on the edge of my couch

What a show, really hypnotic. People who gave 2, 1 or zero are complete morons.

The question "what is the cost of lies" is probably asked by the creators to themselves. Truly, the cost is huge, as this is the way future generations will learn about the events that unfolded in Chernobyl - with an ugly piece of propagandistic lies.

The drama is intense! HBO's Chernobyl is a nail-biter, that'll leave you thirsty for more every episode.

This movie shows you the real things in chernobyl you always have stress because of the decision people make in this movie

A retelling of the the Chernobyl disaster that leaves you shocked. It's hard to put into words the impact this show will have on you. The fact that these events occurred in our lifetime proves reality really is stranger than fiction. The acting is top notch, the writing and directing are off the charts. Watch the first episode and you'll be hooked until the last word is uttered.