Nemesis42
Thoroughly enjoyable sci-fi romp. Balanced dose of wonder, humor and action. Nice to see some images on older film stock and hear a slightly bombastic score, with the sci-fi parts of the score sounding just like you would expect from something made in yesteryear.The time-travel logic has been elegantly wound up with minimal loose ends. Logic can evade us often with time travel. Even though this story has been very satisfying, it would be interesting to see the same story but with the butterfly effect in play after the Japanese fleet gets hammered instead.Can't complain though. Lots of fun.
Robert J. Maxwell
Nice opening to this modern-day science fiction adventure -- scenic views of Hawaii and Key West, impressive shots of the monstrous aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, a Tomcat slamming onto the carrier's flight deck. Air/Sea Rescue supported by triumphant music. The helo crew save two survivors of a strafed yacht. They save Katherine Ross's dog too. Well-done aerial shots, illustrating refueling procedures. And a glance or two at the bridge of the Nimitz.Frankly, I was astonished. It's all buttons. If the skipper, Kirk Douglas of the cleft chin, sings out, "Give me twenty-five knots headwind across the flight deck," the quartermaster (if that is in fact what he is) simply punches a course into some kind of electronic junk the shape of a reclining refrigerator. There is nobody at the helm because there is no helm for anybody to be at. Nothing even remotely resembles the equipment of the destroyer-sized Coast Guard cutter I served eight unforgettable months on. I don't think it would be much fun to work on the Nimitz. No sense of the sea, more a feeling of living in a huge, congested, immaculate iron city, cluttered with industrial yellow heavy movers and fire trucks. It might as well be a construction site.Martin Sheen is a civilian systems analyst (read "efficiency expert") assigned to the Nimitz. Sheen is welcomed aboard by Douglas but has a contretemps with one of the pilots, James Farentino. Shortly after Sheen's arrival, the Nimitz runs into an extremely odd electrical storm that produces generous lightning and a horrible screeching sound. Everyone is knocked about for a few minutes and when they recover, still dazed, everything seems normal again. Douglas sounds general quarters, launching a period of organized chaos. The fulsome score borrows from "Patton" and from "633 Squadron". It begins to look like a long and lavishly budgeted episode of the original "Twilight Zone" -- and it stays that way. It's December 6th, 1941, and the Japanese fleet is on its way to attack Pearl Harbor. Douglas and his men figure this out shortly, when they pick up the Japanese fleet on radar.Cut to an old-fashioned wooden yacht, shellacked and painted, with Charles Durning and Katherine Ross, after whom Senator Durning lusts. They're listening to a speech being broadcast by President Roosevelt warning the nation of the danger by foreign aggressors. (Kids, that's President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who served out almost four terms between 1933 and 1945. The "foreign aggressors" he's talking about must be Nazi Germany and Japan. President Roosevelt had had polio and was unable to walk, but the press never showed pictures of him in his wheelchair. That's what journalism was like in 1941.) Two lone Japanese zeroes sink the yacht but are in turn shot down by two modern Navy fighters. One Japanese pilot is rescued.It would have made a fascinating episode of "The Twilight Zone" but the movie goes awry before too long. Katherine Ross and Charles Durning are the survivors of the strafed yacht. They're brought up by winch into the helo compartment. "I'm sure glad you were out here," remarks Durning. At the time there were virtually no helicopters, just a few private toys held together with spars. And Durning is sitting in the spacious compartment of this big helicopter, being cared for by men in modern Navy uniforms, evidently oblivious to his surroundings. It's not until he's taken aboard the carrier that he activates what Ivan Pavlov called the orientation reflex. That is, he takes notice of what's around him.So does the resolute Japanese prisoner, who grabs a gun and some hostages and demands access to a radio. Clearly he wants to warn his fleet of the presence of the Nimitz. There is considerable concern over this by Douglas and the rest. Should they allow him to warn the Japanese attack force? Well -- if they gave it any thought, they probably would. What would be the consequence? The attack force of six aircraft carriers might try to bomb and torpedo the Nimitz but given the difference in technology they probably wouldn't do much damage, if any. OR, having been warned, Nagumo might realize that he now lacked surprise and might have turned the fleet around -- thus averting, for a while, America's entry into World War II.At any rate, I can't help wondering how this film went over in Japan, redintegrating, as it does, some of the anger and resentment of the war years. When two of our most advanced jet fighters down the two Zeros, the order is, "Splash the two Zeroes," and the Navy aviators chuckle with joy. The triumphant music gets louder. You can almost hear a theater audience as they grit their teeth and shout, "That's right -- kick some ASS!" And when Douglas orders the Nimitz to prepare for battle, and we see the crew rushing around arming bombs while horns honk, drums pound out a march, trumpets blare, and the notes of the national anthem creep into the score, there is the same emotional charge. Douglas orders an air strike against the Japanese fleet but then recalls the flight. "Damn, they're going to let the Japs do it again!", complains one of the aviators. The writing, the direction, and the score promote the kind of child-like enthusiasm that one finds at a high school football game. It's an appeal to some of our basest instincts.
olasnah-97-475221
This movie had me hooked as a kid, and growing up, I've come to appreciate the nod to historical events, the aircraft on display like a time capsule, and the sci-fi plot that presents a host of interesting questions for the viewer. That, and a great musical score....I have to wonder though.....How does Yelland end up explaining the dead Marines and the body of the Japanese pilot to his superiors? His gear? The lost helicopter and crew? Not to mention, the pilots who splashed the two Zeros...what will they tell people? Also, the entire ship's crew that was told they were prepping for war with the Japs, the recon photos, the radio transmissions of old 1940's broadcasts....Yelland makes the comment at the end that "They'll never believe it", but I think in the end, there's bound to be swift reaction to what happened on that ship in the present day. I'm tossing that one up as a bit of a good though, because I think the intention of the filmmakers was that they come back with no real proof that it ever happened outside of the dog.....and the curious case of Mr. Tideman.Even historical evidence remains, as there's the downed Zeros in what is probably shallow waters, and the remains of the helicopter that exploded off the island, and also the equipment/supplies left behind that were intended for the Senator and the girl?
