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Reviews
The Final Countdown (1980)
Zipang is an alternate take on Final Countdown
I've enjoyed this film in the theater and on TV and recently acquired it on DVD. One of the nice extras is a commentary track by the film's director of photography. He provides fascinating details about the actual shooting such as the fact that all the shipboard scenes were filmed on board the Nimitz during a brief layover and a week-long training exercise. The technical aspects of the DVD are well done.
Some story elements may have been overlooked or perhaps altered in the editing. The Nimitz' strategic policy was initially nonintervention and self-preservation. The F-14's were ordered to shoot down the Zeros, not in reprisal for their attack on the yacht, but in order to stop them from finding the carrier with its armament-laden deck. The decision to engage the invading force came about only when attack was imminent. When the captain learned that the time vortex was actively pursuing the ship and escape was impossible, he recalled his men in order to avoid stranding them in time. The only time-altering consequence of the whole scenario was to deposit Commander Owens in a situation where he could affect the future. The reason for that action and the nature of the intelligence behind it is left to the imagination.
If you enjoyed Final Countdown, check out the recent anime series Zipang. It's an alternate telling and role-reversal of this story. A modern Aegis vessel from the Japanese Self Defense Force is transported back to the Battle of Midway and presented with the opportunity to alter the outcome of that engagement. It's a well told story with realistic animation, unlike typical Saturday morning action cartoons.
Laser Mission (1989)
correction on location
This turkey came with the "50 SciFi Classics" pack - a real treasure trove for the bad cinema aficionado. I can't add much to what's already been said about the lousy scripting, acting and directing, but there's one scene near the end that's the pièce de résistance. Michael Gold takes a carefully aimed shot in the back less than twenty feet away. The front of his shirt just oozes blood and he staggers around at first. It got my hopes up for a minute. Miraculously, however, he seems to recover more and more as time goes on. Before long we see him running, knocking off more bad guys and making his usual wisecracks. Once in a while he grabs his shirt to stanch the blood, but he by the end of the film the wound is all but forgotten. Well, you knew nothing bad was going to happen to him when Kalishnakov inexplicably removes the handcuffs and allows himself to be overpowered.
A couple people speculated that the film's fictional setting was Cuba. I believe it opened in some made-up sub-Saharan nation - I'm not going back to look up the name - but it was stated during one of the briefings that the bad guys were on their way to Namibia, a real desert country in southwest Africa. I only make note of it because I traveled there a couple years ago, and I swear I recognized one of the street scenes they used as well as the distinctive color of the Namib desert sand. It makes me wonder if they blew most of the filming budget on a boondoggle to Africa for a few location shots.