Movie Review – The Final Countdown (1980)
Imagine if one day you were suddenly transported back in time.
In addition to that, imagine that not only were you transported to a point back in time just prior to a key event in American history, but you also had the capability of changing history.
That’s the premise behind The Final Countdown, a 1980 science-fiction film that transports a modern aircraft carrier back in time to December 6, 1941. The ship’s captain is faced with the ultimate decision: Do you destroy the Japanese fleet and prevent the attack at Pearl Harbor?
Directed by Don Taylor, The Final Countdown stars Kirk Douglas as Captain Matthew Yelland, the skipper of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier. Co-starring in the film is Martin Sheen in the role of Warren Lasky, a civilian observer who works for the Department of Defense. Supporting them are James Farentino as Carrier Air Wing Commander Richard T. Owens / Mr. Richard Tideman; Katharine Ross as Laurel Scott; Ron O’Neal as Commander Dan Thurman, the Nimitiz’s executive officer; and Charles Durning as Senator Samuel Chapman.
The Final Countdown (1980) – (c) United Artists
The Final Countdown begins with Warren Lasky (Martin Sheen) arriving at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Before departing on his mission for the Department of Defense, he’s seen off by a mysterious man named Mr. Tideman. Allegedly Mr. Tideman knows Lasky, but nothing more is mentioned about it at this point in the film. Lasky boards a naval SH-3 Sea King helicopter and he’s flown out to the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier.
The Final Countdown (1980) – (c) United Artists
Upon arriving at the Nimitz, Lasky is met by the ship’s executive officer, Commander Dan Thurman (Ron O’Neal). He’s then taken up to the bridge to meet with the ship’s skipper, Captain Matthew Yelland (Kirk Douglas). Captain Yelland isn’t too pleased with Lasky’s arrival as it has delayed the ship’s departure by two days. The Nimitz is about to head into the Pacific Ocean for a series of training exercises, and Lasky is there to observe the crew and find ways to improve the ship’s operations.
The Final Countdown (1980) – (c) United Artists
Lasky is assigned a cabin down in the ship. He wanders to the cabin next to his and sees a bunch of historical research material. Commander Richard T. Owens (James Farentino) isn’t pleased when he finds Lasky snooping around his cabin and reading his manuscript. Tensions are eased when Lasky praises Owens for his work and material. It turns out that Owens is a historian and is writing a manuscript about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
The Final Countdown (1980) – (c) United Artists
Meanwhile, the Nimitz is currently recovering its aircraft as a storm suddenly develops over the ship. The only problem is that the storm doesn’t appear on the weather charts. Things become even freakier when a greenish energy vortex suddenly appears. The Nimitz is forced to continue sailing right into the energy vortex. Crew members are knocked unconscious as the energy vortex reaches its peak intensity.
And then suddenly everything is clear.
The ship’s crew awakens and discovers blue skies around their ship. The electronics work and everything appears to have recovered. It’s just odd that their long-range communications with the Pentagon and even the White House no longer works. What’s even more odd is that the ship’s communications officers detect coded messages that were used back in the Second World War.
The Final Countdown (1980) – (c) United Artists
Captain Yelland places the ship under general quarters until they figure out what just happened. For all they know the energy vortex could have resulted from some sort of nuclear attack from the Soviet Union. He orders reconnaissance aircraft to check out the local area. An RF-8G Crusader and E-2 Hawkeye take off and begin scanning the area.
Soon clues to what happened are discovered. They can hear an old radio program from 1941 on the ship’s radio. The RF-8G Crusader photographs old battleships at Pearl Harbor, ships that were sunk during the Japanese raid on December 7, 1941.
The Nimitiz‘s radar detects a surface vessel about 130 miles away from the ship. Captain Yelland orders for two F-14 Tomcats to check it out. What they discover is an old yacht in mint condition and flying an American flag.
The Final Countdown (1980) – (c) United Artists
It turns out that the yacht belongs to Senator Samuel Chapman (Charles Durning). The senator is off the coast of Hawaii to seek some isolation while planning his next political move. Joining him is an aide, some crew members of the yacht, and his secretary, Laurel Scott (Katharine Ross). Everybody on the yacht is spooked when the F-14 Tomacts make a low-level, high-speed reconnaissance pass. Senator Chapman is shocked that such aircraft could exist, especially since his sits on a committee that would oversee such projects.
The Final Countdown (1980) – (c) United Artists
A pair of Japanese A6M Zero fighters are spotted heading towards the yacht. They fire on the yacht and send the senator and his secretary, and her dog, into the ocean. As the Zeros make another pass to kill the people in the water, Captain Yelland authorizes the Tomcats to destroy the Zeros. Both Zeros are destroyed though one of the Japanese pilots survives and parachutes into the water.
Captain Yelland assigns Commander Owens to oversee the rescue operation for the survivors. Senator Chapman and Laurel Scott are both rescued along with the Japanese pilots. Commander Owens’ fears about travelling back through time are confirmed when he meets Senator Chapman. According to history, Senator Chapman went missing on December 7, 1941, and his body was never discovered. Back on the Nimitz, Senator Chapman and Laurel are kept in isolation, and the Japanese pilot is held as a prisoner.
The Final Countdown (1980) – (c) United Artists
While the rescue operation was taking place, the crew of the E-2 Hawkeye spots the Japanese strike force sailing to their destiny with Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
All evidence points to the USS Nimitz travelling back in time to December 6, 1941. The situation around them in the Pacific Ocean confirms it. The Japanese task force has been spotted as it steams towards Hawaii. So what is Captain Yelland supposed to do about it? Should he ignore the Japanese task force and allow them to attack Hawaii as history tells us, allowing the natural course of action to happen? Or should he use the carrier’s powerful air wing to attack and destroy the Japanese task force?
It’s a situation that you can debate until you’re blue in the face. Is it right to interfere with history and change the future, or should history be allowed to progress as it originally happened?
The Final Countdown (1980) – (c) United Artists
In isolation, Senator Chapman refuses to cooperate with the ship’s doctor. He only insists on speaking with the captain of the ship. The Japanese prisoner isn’t speaking either. He takes advantage of a distraction and seizes a guard’s M-16 assault rifle. The pilot holds the senator hostage along with Laurel, Warren Lansky and Commander Owens. Through the use of a translator the crew members try to talk to the pilot. Commander Owens tells the pilot all about Japan’s secret plans to attack Pearl Harbor, including their secret code phrases. This distracts the pilot and some of the ship’s security guards shoot and kill him.
The Final Countdown (1980) – (c) United Artists
Senator Chapman finally meets with Captain Yelland, and he insists on radioing Pearl Harbor to warn them of the impending attack. Unfortunately, the soldiers at Pearl don’t believe the senator’s radio calls, and the transmission is ended. The senator then demands to be flown to Pearl, and again the captain agrees with this demand.
However, Captain Yelland has a different plan. He orders Commander Owens to escort Senator Chapman and Laurel Scott to a deserted island in the Hawaiian archipelago. They’ll be safe there from the incoming attack, and fate can still decide what happens to them in the future. The captain needs Owens to be back soon so that he can lead the carrier’s attack force against the Japanese fleet.
The Final Countdown (1980) – (c) United Artists
The SH-3 Sea King carries the civilians to a deserted island. Laurel climbs out of the helicopter and supplies for them are offloaded, but Senator Chapman refuses to leave the aircraft. He insists on going to Pearl Harbor. The senator uses a flare gun to hold the helicopter’s flight crew hostage and fly him to Pearl. As the helicopter flies away there’s a struggle for the weapon. The flare gun fires and the helicopter is destroyed, stranding Commander Owens and Laurel on the deserted island. While they’re on the island, Laurel notices the date on the provisions and realizes that Commander Owens was telling the truth about being from the future.
The Final Countdown (1980) – (c) United Artists
On the USS Nimitz, Captain Yelland briefs the crew through the ship’s broadcast system. He informs them of their situation and his plans on attacking the Japanese task force. Strike aircraft are readied and soon all of the attack aircraft are airborne. The Japanese navy is about to be obliterated.
The Final Countdown (1980) – (c) United Artists
Suddenly the mysterious storm reappears and the energy vortex is back. The Nimitz tries to sail away from the strange force, but when the Nimitz changes course, so does the energy vortex. There’s no escaping it. Captain Yelland cancels the strike mission and orders the aircraft to return to the Nimitz. Once again the aircraft carrier is overwhelmed by the energy vortex and transported through time. We see news clips of the attack at Pearl Harbor as the ship travels back to the future.
The USS Nimitz reappears back in 1980, and all of the strike aircraft make it safely through the vortex as well. They all land on the ship before she docks in Pearl Harbor a short while later. A special investigative crew boards the ship while the rest of the crew disembarks.
The Final Countdown (1980) – (c) United Artists
The Final Countdown ends as Warren Lasky disembarks along with Charlie, Laurel Scott’s dog from 1941. Suddenly Charlie bolts for the car carrying the mysterious Mr. Tideman. It turns out that Mr. Tideman is none other than Commander Richard Owens. He married Laurel Scott and used his knowledge of history to become a wealthy individual.
So is The Final Countdown a good movie?
As a whole, The Final Countdown is a decent science-fiction film that asks (at that time) one of the ultimate “what if?” questions. The film is interesting, the characters are good, and the aircraft and flight scenes are fantastic. In fact, the naval aviation scenes were so good that the U.S. Navy briefly used this film to help recruit new sailors.
The biggest downfall for this film is its incredibly cheesy special effects involving the energy vortex. It’s really a shame too as the whole “vortex through time” is actually a really fascinating part of the film and a critical part of the plot.
One of the best aspects with The Final Countdown is its simplicity. The aircraft carrier is sent back through time, the crew needs to figure out how to handle the situation and whether or not it’s appropriate to change history, and then there’s the rapid conclusion. You don’t need to know a whole lot about the U.S. military to enjoy this film.
The Final Countdown (1980) – movie trailer
The Final Countdown has become a cult classic type of film, but don’t let that discourage you from seeing this fascinating film. The plot is great, the aviation scenes are fantastic, and as a whole, this is a pretty good science-fiction film. If anything, The Final Countdown could be a little bit longer and go a little more into the crew’s dilemma.
Captain Yelland – “If the United States falls under attack our job is to defend her in the past, present and future.”
Lasky – “And after that?”
Captain Yelland – “After that, we take our orders from the Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces.”
Lasky – “Franklin Delano Roosevelt?”
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Captain Yelland – “This is the captain, I am speaking to every man aboard this ship. In the past few hours many things have happened; rumors of nuclear attacks and a third world war are totally untrue. We have no reason to believe that any aggression has been taken against our homes our families. I believe what we stumbled across is not man-made but a phenomena of nature, one that can’t be explained. This phenomena is the storm in which the Nimitz went through less than 18 hours ago, the storm has had some effect on time as we know it, it created a portal, a door into another era. Today is December 7, 1941… I’m sure we are all aware of the significance of this date in this place in history. We are going to fight a battle that was lost before most of you were born. This time, with God’s help, its going to be different… Good Luck.”