It’s an adaptation of 2 novels,
The Glass Tower and
Inferno, which deal with similar themes. On screen the overarching theme is typical of its time and genre - we are at the mercy of forces that are too powerful for us, and which even the most advanced systems we can design cannot save us from. While films like
Andromeda Strain explore this from the point of view of the natural world - it’s an alien pathogen in that case, which (spoiler alert) mutates itself out of harm’s way, without human intervention - films like
Poseidon ‘72 and
The Towering Inferno blame profit-chasing, unaccountable mega-corporations for blighting the built environment with enormous man-made structures and systems that are inevitably still at the mercy of natural forces that are even greater (an ocean wave, or a fire).
I do like
Inferno and I recommend it because if you are in any way interested in the language of film (how it’s lit, directed, staged, costumed, scored) it’s a good one to learn from. A feature film isn’t a documentary and the people in it aren’t random real-life people who dress and act in random ordinary ways. Everything you see and hear is crafted in service of the overall thesis. 1970s disaster films sit in the early days of this modern approach to film-making so they are a good introduction to it because, by more recent standards, they can be unsubtle, so the techniques may be easier to spot.
But yes, if you like a good disaster film on your TV on a Sunday afternoon, it fits the bill on that level alone.
