The Final Countdown (1980)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1980
	Director: Don Taylor (The Island of Dr. Moreau, Escape from the Planet of the Apes)
	Actors: Kirk Douglas (Spartacus, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea), Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now, Dead Zone), Katharine Ross (Donnie Darko), James Farentino
	Country: USA
	Genre: Thriller, War
	Conditions of visioning: 28.01.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: While on a regular mission in the pacific ocean, the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Nimitz encounters a kind of storm that sends it back to the past, just a few days before the Pearl Harbor attack.
Review: I had heard about this German Blu-ray edition as it was the world first for this movie. It is indeed pretty good, but I realized that very often (especially for the scenes inside the ship) only the center of the image is HD-sharp, the rest being blurred especially at the bottom of the frame. I do not know if this is due to the movie or to the transfer. One should compare to the American edition by Blue Underground but this one doesn't seem to be perfect either. The sound is not very powerful but otherwise very good. I loved this movie when I was a kid and I could now remember why. The story of time travel mixed with the context of war at a critical moment in WWII is fascinating, even if some say that it is only worth an episode of The Outer Limits. The stakes are made very easy to understand in order not to loose the viewer, and in fact not much happens during the movie. Instead, we spend a large amount of time watching planes flying, taking off, refueling etc... the day-today life on an Aircraft carrier, and that is what I liked as a kid. It is a fascinating piece of military equipment, as they emphasize in the movie. I enjoyed watching the movie again, although I became aware of its limitations. The main actors are great, and I like the design of the time vortex, bringing some surreal images like the one below.
Rating: 8 /10