A modern aircraft carrier caught in a mysterious storm, travels through a time portal to the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The captain and crew find themselves facing morale time changing dilemmas when they realise they are in 1941.
Director Don Taylor's The Final Countdown is a fine production, even if the handful of writer's story and script is somewhat plodding. The concept is almost a reverse of the 1955 conspiracy theory of the 'Philadelphia Experiment'. The intriguing aspect of the time travel story plays second fiddle to carrier's events and activities. The on location feels adds credence to the film with planes landing and taking off, emergencies landings, dogfights and the like captured by Victor J. Kemper's cinematography. A hostage situation livens things up when a sentater is rescued after his yacht is bombed. There's some great age-makeup in the final act, but this is brief. The military hardware, procedures and the details of life onboard the aircraft carrier is the real star. Predating The Philadelphia Experiment (1984) and Top Gun (1986), Taylor's lengthy U. S. Navy showboating, accompanied by John Scott's plucky naval score, takes precedence over the sci-fi elements.
Both Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen give expected great performances, even if somewhat hampered by the sparse script. Sheen provides the science time travel logic; and Douglas keeps the thin time travelling shenanigans grounded. Katharine Ross gets little to do. Ron O'Neal Is notable along with James Farentino as Commander Dick Owens. Charles Durning gives his usual larger than life performance as Senator Samuel S. Chapman.
Overall, the lengthy runtime amounts to very little given the intriguing storyline, that said, naval and airforce fans may find it interesting.
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