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Terrible film/Great film!

Posted: 2003-05-21 11:01am
by Ubiquitous
Ahhh, last night was funny. Besides being the usual Sopranos night, a programme so good that you would gladly let your only daughter marry it, the TV guide brought my attention to a film with such a brilliant premise, that it threatened to be the best movie since Pulp Fiction! "A fully armed, modern, Nuclear Carrier travels back in time to December 1940 [obviously mistake] just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour" it said.

"Oh my god!" I thought, "Which should I watch, the brilliant gangster flick, or this potentially godly movie?

Thankfully, I choose to watch the last 15 minutes of Sopranos before changing the channel to The Final Countdown [or what ever it was called]. This was a good move, I would later realise.

The first thing that struck me was the terrible acting. The movie was set aboard the Nimitz, which was cool, as I feared they would send the Enterprise back into the past, which would have had ... interesting consequences if they were to meet the Enterprise of that era!

The ship was sent back in time by some bullshit time warp weather thingy. Think the anomaly of the week from TNG or VOY, and add ten more layers of bullshit, and you have it. Going through this anomaly made the crew scream and hold their ears, for whatever reason, acted out as if they were listening to a Cliff Richard rendition of some kind.

"Ok, this hasn't started well, but things can only get better, right?!"

Oh yes, MUCH better! :D

This movie provided one of the worst plots in history. Characters, such as a random senator that the crew saved, were killed off, even introduced, for no reason. A potentially cool story branch with a captured Japanese aviator was ruined when he was hit by about 50 rounds from Marines whilst trying to radio the Japanese fleet to turn around. In fact, the entire movie was appalling, but so appalling to make it brilliant!

You see, the faces on the Japs when two F-14's engaged their Mitsubishi Zero's was quite hilarious! Watching two Tomcats run loops around the Japs whilst they fire their cannons in vain almost made me watching 90 minutes of drivel worth it! The best part, however, was when an AAM was launched at the Zero; talk about overkill! :D

Anyway, a potentially brilliant denoument was completely ruined when the anomaly reappeared, just as the entire Nimitz air wing prepared to engage the entire Carrier fleet on its way to Pearl! Just how cool that battle would have been [albeit one sided] is not even worth contemplating. Instead, we got to see the crews’ reaction to the Cliff Richard song. Again.

So, anyway, has anyone else watched it? I believe it was made in 1980, or around that time. So bad that it was great! :D

Posted: 2003-05-21 11:05am
by Trytostaydead
Yeah, it's a great film IMO. It was pretty well done and for an 80s movies about whether or not we should try to change history, CAN we change history, and is our future responsible for history so is there such a thing as freewill then? And if so, how did the loop start happening if past events and current events are dependent upon yourself going back in time to do it?

Posted: 2003-05-21 11:18am
by Tsyroc
The parts you liked are some of the best parts of the movie. I also like the part where all the 1940s people arrive onboard the Nimitiz for the first time. :-)

What I like in particular is that you can tell they actually filmed live planes.
I really hate fake aircraft scenes, especailly when it envolves aircraft that are currently in service. For some reason they never look/move right for me. Lately this seems especially true of CGI planes.

It's been awhile since I've seen that movie but given the time frame of the movie if the Nimitz was prepared for a real deployment she would have been packin' some nukes.

Posted: 2003-05-21 12:29pm
by Vympel
Right up there with true classics like Red Dawn :roll:

Posted: 2003-05-21 01:12pm
by Knife
I like that movie. Kurt Douglas IIRC amongst some others. Sure, its spotty at times in the plot, but hey its twenty years old. The actual planes and ships in the movie make it worth while. The staffing of the yaht is great, and the looks of wonder by the Senetor and his aide is well worth it.

Posted: 2003-05-21 01:16pm
by neoolong
Vympel wrote:Right up there with true classics like Red Dawn :roll:
Hey. I actually liked Red Dawn. Funny movie.

Posted: 2003-05-21 01:21pm
by Admiral Valdemar
If it had the song by Europe as the main theme then it would be much better.

Posted: 2003-05-21 02:12pm
by irishmick79
Funniest scene in the whole movie was the Senator going on a rant about President Roosevelt keeping secrets from the Senate.

Posted: 2003-05-21 02:25pm
by Kuja
The best part, however, was when an AAM was launched at the Zero; talk about overkill!
I burst out laughing the first time I saw that. It's like "Was that REALLY necessary?" :lol:

Posted: 2003-05-21 02:35pm
by Batman
I postively love the scene with the Tomcats and the Zeros. The rest of the film isn't all that hot,though.
I so wish they would have let the Nimitz' air wing play with the japanese fleet :?

As for Red Dawn, while that movie was atrocious it hat what IMHO was the best Hind mock-up in the history of silly movies where lotsa things are blown up.

Posted: 2003-05-21 05:57pm
by Damaramu
Bah. Invasion USA beats them both. :wink: