The Final Countdown (Widescreen
Edition) starring Kirk Douglas, Martin
Sheen, Katharine Ross, James
Farentino, Ron ONeal
Fantastic Movie Classic
With a tantalizing what-if? scenario and a respectable cast of Hollywood
veterans, The Final Countdown plays like a grand-scale episode of The
Twilight Zone. Its really no more than that, and time-travel movies have
grown far more sophisticated since this popular 1980 release, but theres
still some life remaining in the movies basic premise: What if a modern-era
Navy aircraft carrier--in this case the real-life nuclear-powered U.S.S.
Nimitz--was caught in an anomalous storm and thrust 40 years backwards
in time to the eve of Japans attack on Pearl Harbor? Will the ships
commander (Kirk Douglas) interfere with history? Will the visiting systems
analyst (Martin Sheen) convince him not to? Will a rescued senator from
1941 (Charles Durning) play an unexpected role in the future of American
politics? Veteran TV director Don Taylor doesnt do much with the ideas
posed by this potentially intriguing plot; he seems more interested in
satisfying aviation buffs with loving footage of F-14 Jolly Roger fighter jets,
made possible by the Navys generous cooperation. That makes The Final
Countdown a better Navy film than a full-fledged time-travel fantasy, but
theres a nice little twist at the end, and the plot holes are easy to ignore.
James Cameron wouldve done it better, but this popcorn thriller makes an
enjoyable double-bill with The Philadelphia Experiment. --Jeff Shannon
Im the webmaster at YellowAirplane and I love this movie so much that I
bought the new DVD even though I have the VHS. It is absolutely one of
the best movies that I have ever seen. It has great shots of the USS
Nimitz, the F-14 Tomcat, S-3 Viking, E-2 Hawkeye, A-7 Corsair (Which
was the plane that I worked on in the Navy) and the A-6 Intruder. This
movie takes off from the very start and keeps you on the edge all the way
through to the end. If you have kids, they will not only love to watch this
one, it is also a very good film for educational purposes. Do you have a
Navy friend, Get this as a Gift. Im not kidding. Its great. C. Jeff Dyrek
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