Rating: Summary: The Final Countdown Review: I thought this movie was great. I've been looking for a copy I don't know how long. An acquaintance of mine told me to try reel .com, and my search lead me to you. The movie has action, ad- venture, and intigue. Enough to make one think, "What if this really happened" would we try to rewrite history and possibly mess up the rest of history or not interfere.
Rating: Summary: The Whole Family Loves It Review: The title of my review says it all. We bought our first copy many years ago when it was first available and have watched it numerous times over the years (we wore out the first copy and the second copy and now are looking for a third copy). The action is good, the story is interesting and it held even our kids' attention.
Rating: Summary: I just wish I could have put six stars Review: One of my friends said that this was a great movie and I should watch it. Every movie that he told me was great really stunk. One day I watched it and it has been one of my most watched movies ever. Third only to the Terminator and the Reluctant Astronaut, yes a Don Knotts movie. The final Countdown has some great scenes of the F-14, A-7, H-3, and some shots of the A-6 and F-8. This one keeps you on the edge of your seat with a lot of historical facts. C. Jeff Dyrek
Rating: Summary: Lu's history fascination Review: This is one of my favorite movies to watch over and over again. I had a copy but it got lost among several moves....I always have been interested in "what if" types of historical events. This is a perfect example, yet leaves it open to each person's magination. The actors do a terrific job and the special effects of sending the U.S.S. Nimitz, a nuclear air craft carrier, back to Dec. 6, 1941 off the coast of Hawaii is fantastic. Imagine. One ship could have defeated the Japanese fleet. It is a movie worth watching several times, especially with the possible effects of the "what if" factor. Given the events of Sept. 11, it gives our imagination a tweak of being able to change catastrophic events in history.
Rating: Summary: Could the "Day of Infamy" have been stopped? Review: Imagine you are the captain of the USS Nimitz, the pride of the modern U.S. Navy, and you suddenly discover you have a chance to completely rewrite history. What would you do? Such is the situation facing the crew of the USS Nimitz in this fascinating movie about traveling through time and the paradoxes people would face in such a situation. Featuring a young Kirk Douglas and a young Martin Sheen, I once heard a reviewer proclaim this a "Navy recruiting film", but it is a fascinating look at what might happen if ordinary people were suddenly given the chance to change history. The flight sequences are amazing (especially the two Tomcats taking on two Japanese Zeros) even if they aren't anywhere close to those in "Top Gun". The plot is a little thin at times (where the heck did that time tunnel come from?), but Douglas and Sheen play off each other well as the skeptical captain and the eager Mr. Laskey. Note: It's fun to watch the two Japanese Zeros fly--they're the same ones used in the old "Baa Baa Black Sheep" series. Anybody here remember that?
Rating: Summary: DVD release Review: The Final Countdown was a classic from the start, I would like to see this on DVD as many as you people. The fact is I have heard rumors and nothing has been confirmed about the release. If anybody has any information on the release please post it. I would also like to see Taps released on DVD, but like this there is no information on that. Thanks for your cooperation and Drive thru for your order... "Mama always had a way of explaining things to me" F.G.
Rating: Summary: nuclear aircraft carrier time travels to the eve of infamy Review: The nuclear aircraft carrier Nimitz is a fleet unto itself ' its jet fighters, missiles and (presumably) nuclear weapons can win WWII several times over. On maneauvers off Hawaii in 1981, the ship encounters a mysterious storm finding itself cut off from fleet headquarters and its escorts. The only radio transmissions available broadcast Jack Benny and news of German tanks outside of Moscow. The untrained ears of some crewmen think that WWIII has broken out. The more trained ears have a more chilling idea: it sounds more like WWII has broken out. The storm ' though cooler heads can't bring themselves to admit it ' appears to have sent the Nimitz back to early December, 1941 ' only days before the sneak attack on Pearl. Commander Matt Yellen (Douglas) is too officious to take any of these clues at face value, even when they involve sightings of Japanese fighters strafing American yachts ' somebody is only trying to make the crew think it's gone back in time. The only true clue may rest with Mr. Lasky (Martin Sheen), a civilian analyst who works for the shadowy Mr. Tideman - a defense contractor who supplies Washington with much of its high-tech hardware (not a small amount of which found its way onto the Nimitz). While other officer debate whether they're being subjected to a massive practical joke or some kind of psych test, Lasky suggests not only that they have gone back in time, but that they can change history and save America from its day of infamy. Only when his reconnaissance planes spot the Japanese fleet on its way 'to climb Mount Nitakaa' (the supposed encoded authorization for the attack) does Yellen realize that he is now back in 1941. 'Final Countdown' shouldn't work, but it's fun anyway. The maneuvering F-14s provide some of the best footage of dogfighting available until 'Top Gun' - including an epic battle between the mach-2 jets and a hapless pair of Zero fighters (who are unlucky enough to meet the jets at that moment when Kirk Douglas changes his mind and decides that he has gone back to 1941 and the threat is real). The interchange between Douglas and Sheen overcomes the gaps in the plot ('so we pass through some weird storm and presto, now we're so much more clever than Mr. Einstein') while a subplot involving Charles Durning as a Senator slated to run with FDR on the ticket that sent to Truman to the Whitehouse reminds us how malleable history really is. (Truman was the President who actually dropped the nukes on Japan, and helmed America in those first few tense cold-war years). At the heart of FC is the science-fiction/mystery aspect (how did a tear in the space-time continuum open up just where the ship would be and manage to deposit it precisely on the eve of the Pearl attack?), but the direction of the film (which concentrates on the nuts and bolts of running a nuclear aircraft carrier) swamps the mystery. It isn't until the last minute when the script offers us a mammoth twist that we realize we've been watching a sci-fi film, not just some film version of a Clancy novel. (The novelization by Martin Caidin gives this more attention). The last frame is cryptic (I know everybody's seen it, but why should I spoil the fun?) but still leaves me with chills. Years later, I still get a rush when I hear Kirk Douglas call out 'Splash the Zeroes'.
Rating: Summary: ONE OF THE ALL-TIME COOL MOVIES Review: I HAD SEEN THIS MOVIE YEARS AGO, AND ALL OF A SUDDEN IT POPPED BACK INTO MY MIND BECAUSE OF THE NEW MOVIE "PEARL HARBOR". IT HAS SUCH AN EXCITING CONCEPT- MODERN WARSHIP GETS TRANSPORTED BACK IN TIME AND CAN POSSIBLY CHANGE THE EVENTS LEADING UP TO PEARL HARBOR. I THOUGHT I REMEMBERED THE SHIP GOING THROUGH THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE- BUT I GUESS THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN. EVEN STILL, IT REMAINS ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOVIES OF ALL TIME AND I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL IT'S RE-RELEASED. I REMEMBER THE SCENE WHERE WE "SPLASHED" TWO JAPANESE ZEROS, AND THE STARTLED LOOK ON THE JAPANESE PILOTS FACES WHEN THEY SAW OUR JETS COMING AT THEM! A MUST SEE, THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME.
Rating: Summary: A film that has everything Review: "The Final Countdown" is one of my all-time favorite films, because it has just about everything I like: military hardware, heroism, and history -- with a delicious helping of sci-fi fantasy. Off the coast of Hawaii, the modern day USS Nimitz encounters a bizarre storm, which is actually a portal through time. The crew gradually becomes convinced that they have emerged in 1941 just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor -- and that they have the futuristic firepower to stop it. But can history really be changed? Initially, it seems likely! In the highlight scene of the film, F-14 Tomcats go to the rescue of a yacht under attack by Zeros. Survivors, a suspicious Congressman and his assistant, as well as an incredulous Japanese pilot, are brought on board the spectacularly anachronistic aircraft carrier. From there, the mission to change history begins to go awry as paradox-producing events occur. Nonetheless, the Nimitz never falters. And you really anticipate, even as the time portal begins to close, that her guns and aircraft will engage the oncoming enemy. "The Final Countdown" is a wonderful fantasy, very realistically enacted. For a time-travel epic, I like the way all the "loose ends" are neatly tied up. History is preserved, with a sensitive, and I must say, emotional, tribute to the heroes of Pearl Harbor.
Rating: Summary: Excellencent fiction Review: The first time I saw this, it was on a Northwest airlines flight to Korea. Never heard of it before this. It is a great sci-fi film.
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