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It's an appealing idea: A nuclear-powered carrier with a full complement of jet warplanes, right off Pearl and knowing the Japanese attack plans. Unfortunately, the movie makes such a mess of it that the biggest element of interest is the aircraft carrier itself.
52% Tomatometer 21 Reviews 60% Audience Score 5,000+ Ratings A time warp takes the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its captain (Kirk Douglas) back to Pearl Harbor, Dec. 6, 1941. Read More Read...
- (21)
- Don Taylor
- PG
- Kirk Douglas
The Final Countdown is a good science fiction film that raises some interesting conundrum like questions. Would you kill Adolph Hitler or Joseph Stalin as a child if you got the chance? Should the Nimitz with the firepower it has go wreak some havoc on the Japanese fleet before they strike?
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The Final Countdown Reviews. All Critics. Top Critics. All Audience. Verified Audience. Phil Edwards Starburst. A disaster. Full Review | Jul 26, 2022. John Brosnan Starburst. On a purely...
- The Final Countdown: Title
- The Final Countdown: Logline
- The Final Countdown: Plot Summary
- The Final Countdown: Analysis
- The Final Countdown: Sequel and Remake
- Agree? Disagree?
The title uses a classic title archetype, the Problem, being a reference to the countdown to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. (For more on titles, see How to Choose a Title For Your Novel)
When a modern aircraft carrier arrives near Pearl Harbor in 1941 and discovers the Japanese ready to attack, the time-travellers must decide whether to change history by destroying the Japanese fleet. (For more on loglines, see The Killogator Logline Formula)
Warning: My plot summaries contain spoilers. Major spoilers are blacked out like this [blackout]secret[/blackout]. To view them, just select/highlight them. It’s 1980. In the Pearl Harbor naval base, the USS Nimitzis preparing to leave for a routine patrol of the Pacific. The aircraft carrier is under the command of Captain Matthew Yelland and his ...
Alternative History
Some people describe The Final Countdownas an alternative history movie, but I disagree. I define it as a secret history movie. In alternative history, a Point of Departureoccurs: there’s an incident that’s not the same in the alternative world as it was in the real world. Because of that one alteration, more and more things change, creating the alternative history. As the ‘time vortex’ moving the USS Nimitz to 1941 is a point of departure, The Final Countdownis potentially an alternative his...
Missed Opportunities
By modern standards, The Final Countdownis quite a slow movie. There’s a lot of what looks almost like stock footage of aircraft, helicopters and US Navy crewmen just doing their jobs. One sequence of an aircraft making an emergency landing seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the movie. I also thought that the screenplay didn’t make enough of the danger of a time paradox. It felt to me like the writers got a bit lost in the complexities of the scenario. For example, it makes no sense...
What if?
“What would have happened if the Nimitz remained trapped in 1941?” is the alternative history scenario raised, but not entirely delivered, in The Final Countdown movie. However, fan fiction on AlternateHistory.com has explored that scenario. The stories describe the battles the Nimitzwould have fought and look at the issues it would face, such as keeping its reactor going and its aircraft flying with no access to spare parts or fuel. Similarly, John Birmingham used a related scenario to The F...
There have been many rumours of sequels and remakes of the Final Countdown, but no actual movie has emerged so far.
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Aug 1, 1980 · The Final Countdown: Directed by Don Taylor. With Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, Katharine Ross, James Farentino. A modern aircraft carrier is thrown back in time to 1941 near Hawaii, just hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Directed By: Don Taylor. Written By: Thomas Hunter, Peter Powell, David Ambrose, Gerry Davis. The Final Countdown. Metascore Mixed or Average Based on 9 Critic Reviews. 51. User Score Generally Favorable Based on 9 User Ratings. 6.1. My Score. Hover and click to give a rating. Add My Review. Where to Watch. Peacock (Subscription required)
