The Final Countdown

Growing up winter Sundays with my dad always included movies, often war films with The Duke and others. When I first saw The Final Countdown it wasn't with dad, but it was a film that reminded me of those great Sunday afternoons, and had such a cool twist! No spoilers here.The Final Countdown is a solid war picture with some great names and faces. Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen lead this cast into Pearl Harbor and a mysterious mission. Once out to sea the aircraft carrier awaits its planes to land when something mysterious happens... the adventure begins and while Kirk oversees his crew and ship, Martin helps figure out what's going on.Add in the fact that it's December 6th and... On the morning of December 7 Kirk has decisions to make and people to save. Martin has a mystery to explain, and none of it is believable - except, that's the brilliance of this story and cast - they do it beautifully and all IS explained.I've watched The Final Countdown many times over the years, always loving the twist and the ending. When Amazon had a great price on streaming, I had to add it back into my library (I had the DVD). I'll watch The Final Countdown many more times and find it cool every time. This one holds up - which is saying a lot. War picture, mystery, suspense, great acting, sci fi... great cast... great storytelling... so many reasons to enjoy The Final Countdown.

The Nimitz travels through a twice-recurring wormhole to Dec 6th 1941.It takes the crew a bit to figure out what's happened.Then the conundrum: do you allow Dec 7th to happen as history suggests, or do you launch your technologically-superior aircraft to intercept the Japanese fleet? Can you have spoiler alerts for a movie this old? Well, here they come:One officer demands action.Another waffles, weighing the possibilities of interfering.Another wrongly states that they can't do anything because America hasn't been attacked yet. This is incorrect: the Japanese attacked and destroyed the pleasure yacht carrying Senator Samuel L. Chapman, flying the American flag.Conundrum: the Senator, his political assistant and her dog are rescued and brought aboard the Nimitz, along with a Japanese Zero pilot. The Senator and all aboard the yacht disappeared. Historically, they died.The Captain finally decides to launch an attack against the Japanese fleet.Surprise! The wormhole reappears as his aircraft are approaching the enemy.Zap! Back to 1979!Problems: Everyone on board. Why? Because they all went back in time. So, their lives are irrevocably changed. This skews the timeline.Also, the Japanese pilot kills three guards, cutting off the timeline for those persons. Timeline skewed, again.Then, the pilot is killed. Who would survive the attack because he is dead? Would the aircraft he was assigned to shoot on the runway launch? Would they kill any Japanese? Timelines skewed: unknown.Additionally, because nobody wanted to murder the people who did not, as history recorded, die at sea; the Captain decides to marron them on a small island not far from Pearl Harbor.Unfortunately, the Senator grabs a flare gun, a struggle ensues and he and the helicopter crew of 4 are killed in an explosion. Four more timelines skewed.One of the pilots from the Nimitz is marooned with Chapman's lovely and very intelligent assistant. They spend the next 40 years, together, using knowledge the pilot has of events (he's a bit of a historian), from 1941 onward, building a business empire. The paradoxes involved in 40 years of skewed timelines isn't even calculable.When the Nimitz returns, the world would have changed dramatically. We don't know what else the pilot who was stranded interfered with; did he influence WW 2? Did he use his knowledge of jet propulsion to help introduce jet-powered aircraft to the Allies?Did he approach the Russians and alter the course of their involvement, saving tens of thousands of Russians and making the U.S. and Russia steadfast allies?This movie fails in many, many ways.It's still a fun ride, however. You know, suspension of disbelief and all that.

Even for its age it still is good. Great glimpse of a navy fighter squadron and their routines.

Very good movie with twist and turns through out. A "what if" type of movie, how many can you count? USS Nimitz at Pearl in 1941, different Vice President, attack on Japanese fleet, how many if all of their carriers would be destroyed, aircraft shot down and of course if Japanese pilot had radioed and was believed????? Would they have retreated? Hmmmm, would we have had the fight Japan????Another part, Commander Owens, CAG, what did he see when he looked at the injured pilot??I thought Charlie was the best actor! With Douglas, Sheen and Ross as supporting actors, I loved the movie. I pull it out at least twice a year.Can't believe I seen a Pinto and Corvair in opening scenes, LOL

Filming was great. Set the stage for modern jet fighter filming sequences. Intriguing plot and excellent acting. Always love to watch this movie and feel nostalgic about the Navy!

Interesting story. Intriguing premise. Well acted, well cast, well directed. Nice to see some Tomcats after 40-some years.

Take a wormhole ride back in time

This is a review of the American film 'The Final Countdown'. We watched it on the 2019 Region B2 Blu-ray from Delta New. It provides a really superb newly restored HD version of this 1980 film. It is watchable in English and German, and is pretty easy to manage. This is a very superior product.I can remember seeing this film on TV many moons ago, and again with my husband, also years ago. I can recall being intrigued and impressed. Had I mis-remembered?The answer is a resounding NO! We watched it again on this yummy, inexpensive German disc, and frankly, it was every bit as good as we recalled. OK, OK, this is not Christopher Nolan, or even Spielberg, it is the late Don Taylor, who was very much an actor first ~ ‘Battleground’(1949); ‘Father of the Bride’(1950); ‘Stalag 17’(1953) ~ and a director second, but nevertheless, if you are looking for a really good yarn of the old school, you couldn’t do better.This was Taylor’s last film, and he did two things very right, in the making of this film. First of all, he assembled some really solid actors, and secondly, he received the full ~ the VERY full ~ co-operation of the US Navy, in the super-sized shape of the USS ‘Nimitz’, it’s then top-of-the-line nuclear Aircraft Carrier. Taylor was allowed to make extensive use of the ship’s vast flight deck, shooting chunks of the film there, both at sea and in dry dock. The crew acted as extras, some even with speaking parts; 48 are named on the final credits. A real life emergency landing by an LTV A-7 Corsair II fighter was filmed and then written into the film script. And very exciting it is.We see many scenes involving the life and work of the crew and of the Navy fliers. Some here are critical of this, suggesting it is boring. Ho-hum, yer pays yer money…. Personally, I think it is brilliant, because it genuinely IS authentic, rather than as in many films, just LOOKING authentic. If you have any regard for ships, the Navy, the sea, this is fascinating, and very impressive.The cast is also impressive: the late great Kirk Douglas, and Martin Sheen, are, whilst not in their best-ever roles, just SO watchable. Less well-known is James Farentino, and this probably IS his best role, as the very intense and professional senior flyer on board.The plot is a good one, which begs a great many very philosophical, moral and scientific questions. The debate between Sheen and Farentino over killing your own grandfather in the past, gets to the nub of the matter. I would love to have seen more of this. Perhaps it is too complex a subject for any one film to cover? (Except by Christopher Nolan!) ’Countdown’ just scrapes the surface, but does a reasonable job.My final verdict? Exciting, intriguing, scary, well-realised Sci-fi, just a fraction short of 5 Stars.

I found this film excellent to watch. Through a weather problem Kirk Douglas's ship goes back in time to 1945 I think it is. Special effect's may be a little dated, but all in all it's well worth watching None of them can really work out what is really going on. Until their pilots, actually see the Japanese war ship's going to Pearl Harbour. They also pick up a Senator who refuse's to believe what he is seeing. Katherine Ross is also very good in this film. Well worth taking the time to watch this film. Kirk Douglas is great in this film. Nice and polite but work's hard with his crew to find out what is really going on. I loved it PC. 18. 10. 2018.

First off I’m not going to detail the film itself except to say that as a film in the time travel genre which I am a great lover of, this is one of my favourites. Having owned it on VHS, DVD and Blu-Ray I was keen to see how it scrubbed up in 4K, but to be honest I was disappointed. The delivery from the US was first class, was ordered before Christmas and was delivered in a week, brilliant service. The transfer is not as crisp as I was hoping for, if you have the blu-ray version then I would say stick with it until a proper restoration is available. The film has significant grain, especially in the darker areas of the film which relates to the below deck scenes, the sound is an improvement over previous versions of the film, the combat scene with the splashing of the zeros is particularly satisfying. The set comes with a blu-ray version and a copy of the fantastic film soundtrack. Overall it’s ok but not worth upgrading if you have the blu-ray. I am fairly new to 4K, this and the equally underwhelming Guns of Navarone version on 4K has made me wary of older films in this format which have not been fully restored.

An Interesting Idea a Modern Naval Aircraft Carrier,"Circa 1980" Enters a Time,"Tunnel" and Ends UIp In itsOriginal Navigational Position Just Days Before The Attack On Pearl Harbour,They Have The Might ToChange The Course Of History But Penultimately Not The outcome...Good Performances By The Leads.Suprisingly It Was Originally Released Through Warner Bothers,"By Kirks Byna Company" and Even AppearedOn V.H.S on Warner Home Video But Not On DVD "Beware Of Public domain Releases".Check Out "The Philadelphia Experement" and "GI Samurai" "AKA TIME SLIP/Day of The Apocolypse" For SimilarTreatments of Events/History.. Possibly changed by time. Reagrds Barry J/GB/UK

I saw this film on TV many years ago, and I had fond enough memories of it to think that it might be worth revisiting on 4K blu-ray. I'm jolly glad that I gave it a try. As other reviewers have said, its script is a bit undeveloped—its ingenious premise could have been the foundation of a much more ambitious story. But if you're lucky enough to have even a modest home theatre, you'll relish the way in which the movie really makes you appreciate all those expensive extra loudspeakers—what with all its jets and helicopters forever whizzing around here, there and everywhere, it's a genuine AV treat. A film for the kind of people who loved the action sequences in Top Gun.