Nimitz: De Volta ao Inferno

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.

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.

I first saw this film when I was right out of high school, and I wasn't surprised to see the lobby-card poster hanging in a Navy recruiter's office a few months later when I dropped by. And that's entirely appropriate; the film is, among other things, a love letter to the modern Navy. I mean that as high praise: Where lots of military movies (and plenty of recruiting commercials) overdo the martial aspects of their characters with a gung-ho Sergeant Rock style, the byplay in this movie provided glimpses of the the Navy (and the Marine Corps too, God bless 'em), honestly and simply, as people taking pride in a demanding, sacrificial profession.

To this day I wonder which, if any, sailors and Marines I saw were actual service people. If any were, Don Taylor and his second-unit directorial crew got excellent small performances from them. Here's an example: In a brief scene that probably barely survived the final cut, there's interaction among some sailors: "Christ, Chief, all we wanna know is what's going on," asserts one mildly exasperated rating. "If you need to know, you'll be told," replies the Chief Master-at-Arms curtly. The people who spoke this dialogue definitely weren't Screen Actors Guild types; they looked and sounded pretty much like sailors I've known. And that's a little detail that's done right so seldom that I hardly notice anymore that I'm deliberately overlooking it.

The aerial sequences set a standard that wouldn't be touched until /Top Gun/ hit the screen. To be sure, both movies relied to some extent on stock footage of naval-aviation ops, but as with /Top Gun/, this film's flying was spectacular -- and, in the last of the years before CGI took hold, REAL. (Compare this film's or /Top Gun/'s exteriors of aircraft with, say, /Air Force One/, and you'll see what I mean.

The "name-actor" ensemble of Kirk Douglas et al. performed, perhaps not brilliantly, but serviceably in a film that certainly was more plot-driven than character-focused. The story -- revealed by plenty of other comments here -- though implausible, is still capable of holding one's interest. But after you catch this flick on the tube for the second or third time, pay attention to the enlisted pukes doing their jobs -- to me, they're the real stars.

If it's on the shelf, rent it. If it's on TV again, watch it. At the least, it's an entertaining story. At its best, it's a good study in style and pacing.

In 1980, the assistant of the Department of Defense Warren Lasky (Martin Sheen) is assigned by his mysterious chief Richard Tideman to visit the aircraft carrier USS Nimtz commanded by Capt. Matthew Yelland (Kirk Douglas) as an observer of the routines. Lasky finds that Wing Commander Richard T. Owens (James Farentino) has a great knowledge of history.

Out of the blue, the vessel faces a weird storm and they find that they have traveled back in time to the eve of the attack of Pearl Harbor on 06 December 1941. When the two Japanese Zeros attack the motorboat of Senator Samuel Chapman (Charles Durning), the crew of the Nimitz rescues the senator and his assistant Laurel Scott (Katharine Ross). But sooner Lasky learns that the senator had disappeared on that day and Capt. Matthew Yelland is planning to attack the Japanese. Will these actions create a time paradox?

Today I have seen "The Final Countdown" maybe for the fifth or sixth time, and it is impressive how this good film has not aged after more than thirty years. The story has time paradox but is engaging supported by a magnificent cast. The DVD released on Brazil by New Line distributor is excellent, with audio Dolby 5.1 and DTS 6.1 and a documentary with the unit production manager Lloyd Kaufaman (Troma) in the Extras. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Nimitz - De Volta ao Inferno" ("Nimitz – Back to Hell")

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.