Reviews

The 1980s were a good time for the science-fiction genre. Particularly films that displayed the might and awesomeness of the United States military machine. Yes, this film has a very interesting premise: What if a modern-day US Naval vessel was sent back in time right before the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor? How would the crew respond and what actions would they take? I loved all of the aircraft scenes in this film. Top Gun owes this film a debt of thanks.

As some have mentioned, the execution is unbalanced. The biggest issue I have with this film is why during the second and third acts, the writers found it necessary for certain plot points to happen. When I saw these events unfold, I cursed in disbelief, and shook my head in disappointment. That's why I can only give this film a 7 out of 10.

In the end, The Final Countdown is a decent film. The cast is very good, as is the acting. One of the great things about this movie is that it doesn't use CGI. With Memorial Day coming up, this is a movie that's well worth watching as we honor those brave souls who have given so much in the cause of freedom.

I'll admit: Lifetime movies are fun to watch because of the sexy actresses. It's a guilty pleasure to watch how nonsensical these films are, because much of what's on TV now is pure crap. Lifetime used to make movies with better narrative storytelling, but now it's as if all the network cares about is whatever can get the most views. So, on to the review of this film. Allison McAtee is definitely the main reason I watched this so-called "movie". She's beautiful, sexy, and seemingly smart, but her facial expressions when she's showing certain emotions are....Weird. She's treating this role as if it's the role of a lifetime, and it's not. Long story, this film is just another wannabe Fatal Attraction that Lifetime reworks over and over again, which is what Robert McKee was alluding to about Hollywood leftovers. Anyways, take a look for yourself and you'll see what I mean-that's if you don't watch Lifetime movies.

This film starts out as the atypical high school teenagers story. It's decent during the 30 minutes, but it quickly goes downhill from there. The main character, who is a flawed, but noble girl, makes some of the dumbest decisions I've ever seen. The worst part of this was the villain, Lexi. I'm not going to spoil it, but this movie fails horribly at suspending disbelief. There were so many face palm moments it was pathetic. This film honestly should have been a comedy. Plot points are left unresolved, resulting in a mess. It's sad that Lifetime movies have great build-up based on the trailers, and end up being damn near trash.

I gave this film five stars because of the following individuals: Actors-Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Ernie Hudson, & Hector Elizondo. Director: George P. Cosmatos. Film Composer-the legendary Jerry Goldsmith. These gentlemen keep this underwater mess of a ripoff of Alien & The Thing, afloat....barely. But, I also have to give credit to the late, great Stan Winston and his team for the creature. The script was terrible, and some of the acting was real corny(especially from Amanda Pays). The plot was decent, but, the viscera and body horror reminded me immediately of The Thing. Lazy writing, just lazy. What's more, underwater horror films don't seem to work. Examples include...Underwater(2020) lol! Next, there's Sphere(2000), and 1998's Deep Rising(Doesn't take place actually underwater, I know, but the creature comes from the ocean depths!) Hollywood needs to stop with the terrors/horrors from the sea type films, they don't work!!!

For people to call this film "underrated" is putting it mildly. This film is "Criminally Underrated." When the film opens, it picks up a short time after the events of The Wrath of Khan. The mood on the ship is grim. What makes this film great is that there's a sense of "picking up the pieces", but more importantly, how this family which has weathered many storms, deal with the loss of a brother. What really stands out is the fact that this family risks all for a loved one-no matter the cost. Viewers who dismiss this film as suffering from the "odd-number film curse", need to re-examine this film. It's always a difficult task of a film being better than its predecessor. The filmmakers do not try to duplicate The Wrath of Khan, which is what makes this film special. Ever since I watched this film as a child, I've always held it very high regard. Long live the Enterprise!

Let me just first say: I'm a big fan of Star Trek, particularly the TOS Enterprise crew. With that being said, this film felt nothing like Star Trek. I've read comments on here that this film was a welcome change from the "broodiness" of Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek: The Search For Spock. That "broodiness" is what made Star Trek the franchise it is meant to be. The comedy in this film is really corny. For a long time, I didn't really look at this film with a critical enough point-of-view. The film is okay as some form escapist entertainment, but it screws up with the "save the whales" nonsense. I don't like filmmakers preaching political messages to me. What I find even stranger, is that damn near all of the positive reviewers fail to ask the biggest questions of where and why a particular something happens. People talk about the odd number of Star Trek films being the worst films in the franchise, well Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was the worst of the even-numbered films. The only bright spot was the introduction of the new refit Enterprise NCC-1701-A.