I first saw this during ABC's premiere presentation broadcast (of theatricals) on the ABC Sunday Night Movie around 1982 - 83 when I was eleven and it blew me away!Decades later, as a Marine Corps veteran when I purchased the special edition DVD, I still marveled at it and watch it every chance I get!If you are a military and science fiction fan, this is a treat. What's not to like? A modern nuclear powered aircraft carrier (with its air wing and arsenal) getting caught in an unexplained phenomenon (in effect, storm) sending it to the day before the Pearl Harbor attack made a wonderful platform. To paraphrase TV Guide's view of the movie, it was a story reminiscent of "The Twilight Zone."Kirk Douglas played a convincing Navy Captain, Matt Yelland commanding the U.S.S. Nimitz and her arsenal that was capable of wiping out the Japanese fleet. Rounding off the players are equally convincing roles by James Farentino - CDR Richard "CAG" Owens, the air wing commander; Ron O'Neal - CDR Dan Thurman, the ship's second-in-command; and Martin Sheen - Warren Lasky, a visiting civilian defense contractor. Charles Durning and Katherine Ross play 1941 characters shocked by their time travelers and ship from the future.Like most stories about time travel, the main characters have to face the main concern about altering the future as they knew it. As one of the characters retorted to another, ". . I don't have your appetite for playing God with the world!" when faced with that prospect. As 1941 friends and enemies come in contact with them, they have to make decisions on how to deal with them to avoid further conflict but at the same time possibly altering the future.The origins of the storm that sent the Nimitz back to 1941 is never explained, so it is left ambiguous. One can surmise that the Nimitz' travel back in time was a test for Captain Yelland and crew to see what they would do with the modern capabilities of the ship in regards to an historical attack they know is coming. Awesome aircraft carrier operations courtesy of the United States Navy spliced with science fiction intrigue make this an appealing tale for both military aficionados and science fiction lovers alike.

A largely historically accurate account of the US Navy aircraft carrier Nimitz's accidental trip back through time to December 1941, this is a hugely enjoyable "Boy's Own" type adventure. It has a cracking script, which resembles a feature length episode of "The Twilight Zone" or "The Outer Limits". It's basically "The Philadelphia Experiment" in reverse. Don Taylor was a good if not exactly innovative director but he does a great job in this, his final film. After "Escape from the Planet of the Apes", this was Taylor's second time travel film, incidentally. It was made on a rather low budget but the fact that the Nimitz played itself meant that this is far from obvious. It has a great cast such as Kirk Douglas as the Nimitz's captain Matt Yelland, Martin Sheen as the civilian systems analyst Warren Lasky, Charles Durning as Senator Samuel S. Chapman (a shoo-in for the Democratic vice-presidential nomination in 1944), James Farentino as Commander Dick Owens (an expert on the attack on Pearl Harbor) and, the only woman in the film, Katharine Ross as Chapman's assistant Laurel Scott.The film features several discussions of the ramifications of altering history by potentially either preventing the attack on Pearl Harbor from taking place or by using the Nimitz to aid the 1941 Navy vessels to defeat the Japanese but there is not as much done with this idea as there could have been. For instance, no one raises the issue of the impact that the US remaining neutral throughout the war would have on the timeline e.g. a very, very big and negative one. The flying scenes are all very impressive, which is hardly surprising considering that the Navy allowed the use of its planes for the film. Oddly enough, it was used as a recruiting tool but I don't know how effective the film was on that score! The brief scenes of the attack towards the end of the film are taken directly from the earlier Pearl Harbor film "Tora! Tora! Tora!". I was able to recognise them immediately since I watched that film only last week.Overall, this is great fun if you don't take it too seriously.

And better.That said, anything with Martin Sheen is worth watching. He's even brilliant in his small yet key role in THE DEAD ZONE. And of course he's brilliant as Pres. Jed Bartlett throughout the entire run of THE WEST WING.As for THE FINAL COUNTDOWN, it's basically two TZ episodes -- "The Odyssey of Flight 33" and "Back There" -- mashed together ... with a WW II spin.Skip TFC and check out TZ. TFC is okay, but Rod Serling was a one-in-a-million genius.

I'm absolutely flabbergasted that this film was ever released, let alone given good ratings by anyone. Don't be fooled by the great sounding cast. I saw this when I was purposely watching obscure films, and it is probably the second worst film I've ever seen.There's very little if any acting going on here. The entire cast delivers their lines like they are bored. Most dialog consists of realistic but dull carrier business (i.e. orders to launch and retrieve aircraft and the like). The rest is just ludicrously, laughably bad. Emotion is virtually absent. From just sitting and talking, to exchanges during death and gunfire, the mood is decidedly flat. You know when something is SUPPOSED to be exciting by the use of raised or hushed voices and possible profanity. Character development is nonexistent. Visual effects consist mostly of inter-cut shots of real aircraft doing their business so there's no problem with realism there, but there's almost no interaction between aircraft. All special visual effects (atmospheric to blood squibs) look very poor. The film's score is no better than the rest. It's often wildly at odds with the tone of what's happening, though that may not be the case if the tone weren't so flat.Perhaps this film's biggest downfall is that it completely sidesteps venturing into the territory it promises to tackle early on, and thus has no significant climax!I don't know what film those giving this high ratings were watching, but I know I've rarely seen such a universally pitiful film.