Nimitz retour vers l'enfer

1980. Aircraft carrier USS Nimitz is on a routine voyage off the coast of Hawaii when she travels through a strange storm. Upon clearing the storm she encounters some strange occurrences, all of which suggest she has travelled back in time in 1941. Moreover, it is 6 December 1941 and the Nimitz is in a position to prevent the disastrous outcome of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

I has low expectations for this film. The whole idea just seemed silly and merely a vehicle for that schoolboy fantasy of modern jet fighters taking on WW2 planes. However, it is far better than that.

Writers and director set the scene well. We see the everyday operation of an aircraft carrier, the different parts and people in the organisation and, of course, the machinery of war. Makes for interesting viewing, so much so that even if there was no plot the video footage could be used as a documentary.

The plot development is handled well too, to the point that the whole time-travel concept even becomes plausible. It is handled quite well, even touching on the implications of changing history.

After this great set up, the conclusion is a bit disappointing, being fairly low-key as the movie sort of fizzles out. The changing history scenario isn't fully explored and you feel that the writers missed a few opportunities to create a powerful ending.

Still, quite entertaining, especially if you like to see military aircraft in action and the workings of an aircraft carrier.

I saw this film way back in college with my close classmates & friends in the aeronautical engineering field. Mind you that most of us love airplanes and during that time where plastic modellers. The excitement of watching this movie prove to be awesome for most of us during that time. We watch it again twice in a span of three weeks that it was shown in the theaters. In the later years, I saw it again in Laser Disc format and it still amaze me that time that I rented that title almost 10 times. The scenes of the carrier operations was the most fascinating scenes that I repeat viewing that specific part several times. As I discover in your web that it has been released this year in DVD format, I'll be waiting for it in the store to come out here in the Philippines. It is still one great movie that I will never forget. Remember Pearl Harbor as we remember Bataan and Corregidor, as brave Americans and Filipinos fought bravely in World War II.

The film is overall excellent. Good candid image of carrier life at the time. Much footage shot onboard. On the other hand, many details are wrong, most obvious is the wrong base on the wrong side of the U.S. The time travel paradox WRT Tideman is pretty interesting. I disagree with an earlier reviewer WRT this. Quantum theory allows for Tideman to exist in two states at one time since he is not observed at the beginning. The image of carrier life is especially good. I had several close friends who were officers on the Nimitz at the time it was filmed. Much better than most Hollywood movies such as "Top Gun." An interesting aside is that several Navy people got fried because of this film. This was before the "Top Gun" mentality, and Navy Brass were not too thrilled about the level of access given for this film. It was claimed that mid level officers gave approval for use of the Nimitz for this film without proper authority. This was before the Navy woke up to the recruiting potential of such films, so use of the Nimitz was regarded as fraud, waste and abuse. Acting is tacky in many cases...the ship and the aviators are the stars. Most of the effects were shot using real aircraft, again a controversial issue at the time. One of my best friends was a pilot in the "Black Panther" A-6 squadron shown. It really makes one think how average people would react if thrust into a similar situation. In short, there will likely never be a movie like this made again. It's kind of analogous to Frankenheimer's "Grand Prix" where the filmers were permitted to enter their own cars into the races. The staggering expense of producing such films makes them rare. It's too bad that some people suffered professional punishment for making Navy resources available to make this film when the Navy rewarded people involved in "Top Gun," in many ways a much less realistic film.

This was a highly entertaining sleeper about a naval ship that happens to go through a time warp and end up at Pearl Harbor just hours before the attack in 1941. Realistic acting, special effects and air scenes really make this movie stand out from other similar movies. I'm really surprised that this film is not more popular, because this was a very unique and fascinating concept for a movie, especially back in 1980. I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a good science-fiction film. I'm also surprised that it has such a low rating, I was expecting it to be rated at least a 7. Ill give it an 8 out of 10. Well worth viewing.

I was aboard during the making of this movie even had a small part in it (the mess deck scene) we were done with lunch but as we were sitting there they were setting up the cameras and asked who wanted to be in a scene ,if you look all the trays are empty as we had just finished eating and were about to leave. We rehearsed the scene and then they played on a cheap cassette player the sound that was to hurt our ears, as it played we threw our trays and grabbed our heads creating the scene you see in the montages. A few days later while in V4 fuels division I was doing a recirc test while in port of the JP5 fuel system ,this involved pumping fuel to the flight deck and then recirculating it back to the pump room .long story short I opened a valve that was not supposed to be open and ended up spraying fuel all over the camera equipment and other movie related items stored in a semi trailer on the pier and drenching two limo's parked on the pier . In an investigation afterwards it was found that I was not fully at fault because the valve I opened should have been tagged "Do not open in port" my claim to fame LOL I am now retired after 23 years EM2.