The Final Countdown (1980), PG, 1 hr 42 min
Critical Review The Final Countdown is one of my favorite movies because I was in the Navy when it was first released, and I actually served in a battle group on the USS Coral Sea (CV-43) along with the USS Nimitz (CVN-68). So this movie holds a great deal of personal interest to me. The film tells the story of the USS Nimitz, a modern nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that is mysteriously transported back in time to just before the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The crew faces a moral dilemma: whether to intervene in history and change the course of World War II or to let events unfold as they originally did. It’s a compelling mix of science fiction and naval drama. The technical details and naval operations seem realistic because they really are — a lot of the scenes showing shipboard action were actually filmed on board the USS Nimitz. So the viewer gets an authentic and immersive look at life aboard a Navy ship. The performances, especially by Kirk Douglas as the experienced a...