Published via Ecency

(source: tmdb.org)

Films that make audience expecting to see one thing and end up delivering another thing usually turn into massive disappointment. That might explain the relative obscurity of The Final Countdown, 1980 science fiction film directed by Don Taylor. The plot begins on USS Nimitz, US Navy’s most modern and most powerful ship, a nuclear-powered capital aircraft career manned by the crew of 6000 and equipped with hundred most modern planes. All that power is commanded by Captain Matthew Yelland (played by Kirk Douglas) who expect nothing extraordinary while sailing from Pearl Harbor for routine exercises. The only unusual thing is arrival of Lasky (played by Martin Sheen), civilian expert who supervises ship’s equipment produced by mysterious Mr. Tideman and whose unfamiliarity with military life causes some friction with Yelland’s officers. More problems arise when USS Nimitz experiences unusual phenomenon during which it will be sucked by a strange blue vortex and afterwards lose all contact with outside world, apart from strange radio broadcasts about events that happened in early 1940s. Yellard, with the help of Commander Owens (played by James Farentino), amateur historian, realises that the ship has experienced time travel and got transported in the exact same location on December 6th 1941, exactly one day before Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. As Yellard and his officer debate whether to intervene and thus change history, attack on Japanese fighters on anđ yacht carrying US Senator Samuel G. Chapman (played by Charles Durning) forces them to act and to rescue the politician and his secretary Laurel Scott (played by Katharine Ross), as well as take one of downed Japanese pilots (played by Soon-Tek Oh) as prisoner.

The Final Countdown was made with high budget and had quite respectable cast, but the main attraction was its premise – what would happen if the modern military were given opportunity to fight famous battles in the past and use its technological superiority over primitive adversaries to alter the course of history. Script does explore some of the issues related to time travel, including Grandfather Paradox, so Yellard and his crew actually think whether the unleashing power of USS Nimitz on Japanese fleet is right thing to do. In the end, the outcome of that debate was preordained with producers’ need to co-operate with US Navy, which graciously allowed production crew access to USS Nimitz. So, Yellard predictably does the right thing and follows his oath that compels him to fight enemies of United States, whether in past or present. The audience that expects big showdown to occur are, however, going to be disappointed due to convenient but utterly annoying deus ex machina narrative twist that makes the entire plot look utterly pointless. Some things in The Final Countdown are good – mainly musical score by John Scott, some decent special effect and interesting aerial combat between US Navy’s F-14 fighter jets and Japanese prop engine Zero fighters which was made with real aircraft and without CGI. Even more interesting are scenes that in loving detail display various aircraft at USS Nimitz, as well as everyday life on US Navy’s floating city. Ultimately, the film is disappointing but it wasn’t completely worthless. In 1986 it inspired the title for the hit song by Swedish rock band Europe.

RATING: 3/10 (+)