It is 1980 and the USS Nimitz puts to sea off of Pearl Harbor for routine exercises. After encountering a strange storm and losing all contact with the US Pacific Fleet, nuclear war with the Soviet Union is assumed and the USS Nimitz arms herself for battle. However, after encountering Japanese Zero scout planes and finding Pearl Harbor filled with pre-World War II battleships, it is realized that the storm the Nimitz went through caused the ship to travel back in time: to December 6th, 1941. A modern aircraft carrier is thrown back in time to 1941 near Hawaii, just hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Please note that F16s are single-engine fighters and that the Navy specifies that such are not flown off carriers any longer. Only twin-engines and up. The fighters in The Final Countdown are F14 Tomcats, same as Tom Cruise flew in Top Gun.<br/><br/>All in all, this is one of my favorite sci-fi movies of the middle years. But I agree with another commenter above: Would have been fun to see the Nimitz and its planes crush the Japanese navy and prevent Pearl Harbor.<br/><br/>Then the rest of the movie might have dealt with the possible future that would have proceeded from that. Perhaps the US would never have entered WW2 and Hitler would have taken over Europe and finished the extermination of the Jews. Or Perhaps, alternatively, Hitler might have been cowed by the mysterious destruction of the Japanese fleet and might have pulled back from his advances into France and elsewhere. All interesting possible outcomes from preventing Pearl Harbor.<br/><br/>Such suppositions have possible implications for today: What if we had NOT gone into Iraq? Would the terrorists have been emboldened, plotted further major attacks, and would we have had even more loss of life and disruption of the country than has proceeded from the decision to invade? Seems at least a reasonable chain of events. Like many others, I could watch this film many times and enjoy it. It's just fun. The best part, and the part that stays with me, is the last scene. What would I do if I knew what was going to happen over the next 40 years? And the reaction of Charlie the dog is priceless. Dogs never forget, I guess. I also like the little subplot with the bombastic U.S. Senator, and Durning does it just right. No imagination whatsoever. Just bust your way through. But the title is terrible. I don't even know what it means and it describes nothing about the movie. "The Last Countdown"??? When I want to look up some trivia or cast member I have to start with the name of one of the stars, like Martin Sheen then go to IMDb and search.
Marchar replied
295 weeks ago