X
- 1980
- PG
- United Artists
- 1 h 43 m
- 1980
- PG
- United Artists
- 1 h 43 m
Summary 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
- 1980
- PG
- United Artists
- 1 h 43 m
- 1980
- PG
- United Artists
- 1 h 43 m
The Final Countdown
51
6.1
Where to Watch
Summary 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
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
51
22% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
78% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
51
22% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
78% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
It's a fun film that presents an interesting scenario and raises a unique possibility. What it lacks in depth and acting skills it more than makes up for as a thoroughly enjoyable popcorn film.
The Final Countdown is an action picture, not a thoughtful rumination on time travel, nor even (per Time After Time) a picture with a puzzle - everything is subordinate here to the sweep and grandeur of an awe-inspiring, ocean-going masterpiece of American technology. [02 Aug 1980]
As a documentary on the USS Nimitz, The Final Countdown is wonderful. As entertainment, however, it has the feeling of a telepic that strayed onto the big screen. The magnificent production values provided by setting the film on the world's largest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier can't transcend the predictable cleverness of a plot that will seem overly familiar to viewers raised on Twilight Zone reruns.
The footage dealing with the mechanics of the Nimitz is, in fact, interesting, and there is one quite comic sequence in which several of the Nimitz's jet fighters take on two, totally baffled World War II-vintage Japanese Zeros. As an entertainment film, though, the movie is utter nonsense. [01 Aug 1980, p.C3]
The Final Countdown emerges from a round trip through this time-bending exercise flattened into a two-dimensional letdown. [01 Aug 1980, p.C7]
Little more than a lengthy Twilight Zone episode.
This is the kind of movie that some kids would probably enjoy - it's filled with technology, special effects and action. But it just doesn't make any sense. And It lacks the wit to have fun with its time travel paradoxes, as last year's wonderful Time After Time did. It just plows ahead. Or behind. Or somewhere.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 User Ratings
6.1
33% Positive
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
56% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
11% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 User Ratings
6.1
33% Positive
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
56% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
11% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Awards
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
• 2 Nominations
Golden Screen, Germany
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
