Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Time Hijinks: The Final Countdown

Time travel is always a double-edged sword. If you go back and change things, your own history can be re-written dramatically. At the same time, if you go back and do nothing, what the hell was the point of going back? Some films handle this balance well (the underrated film The Returner), while others mire the whole thing in the muck (the recent release retroGRADE). Where does today's film fall in there? You just have to wait and see. What you need to know is that this was a big-budget release and features many famous character actors like Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen. This all sounds great, right? Find out the truth in my review of...
Just an FYI: the song by Europe was made in 1986 and is not featured in this movie, which was made in 1980. I know- I'm sad too.
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In 1980, a man (Martin Sheen) is sent onto the U.S.S. Nimitz as an observer. He meets up with the Commander (Kirk Douglas) and his second-in-command (James Farentino). There is also a bit of foreshadowing with the unseen bosses of Sheen's character. That won't pay off until later, so don't worry about that. They show the man around the ship before heading out to sea. Unfortunately for them, a pretty cheesy effect appears in front of them and sucks them in. They find themselves in the past. This is determined when their military radio chatter is replaced with old WWII chatter and a Jack Benny radio show. Wow, you are a master of subtlety, movie. The Commander sends out some scout ships to find out what is going on. The men discover some genuine Japanese Zeros strafing about. The evil 'Japs' shoot up a ship featuring a United States Senator (Charles S. Durning) and his dog. They survive due to the intervention of the American ships. Does this make a time paradox? Evidently not.
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The time manipulation keeps coming as they shoot down two Japanese planes, rescue one pilot and all of the survivors. Remember: we should not interfere. Apparently, history shows that the Senator 'disappeared' during this time period originally, so history is changed even further. Fortunately, one of the crew just happens to be a giant history nerd and have a super-comprehensive book on WWII. Of course, his book should be changing as they interact with this time period...but let's pretend that I did not say that. Our heroes realize that they have been dropped off right before the bombing of Pearl Harbor! What will they do? Do they intercede or let history be kept intact? Why stop now when you've already affected at least three incidents? Both sides argue their case, but get side-tracked when the Japanese POW tries to escape. They trick him by telling him about future events and kill him. Before this, he shot a pair of guards, which raises one question: is it still murder if you kill people before they were even born?
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Here is the big problem with this movie: they crap out on the ending. The lead guy decides that they finally need to intercede, under the pretense that they are following FDR's orders. Yeah...that makes sense. They plan to dump the Senator off on a random island and keep him safe, but he freaks out when he learns this. In a struggle, he sets off a flare and blows up the helicopter. This fixes a time travel gap involving the man being next in line to be Vice President in place of Truman. I'm sure that this is comforting for his family, guys! Oh and one of them (Farentino) gets dumped overboard. Right before our heroes can, you know, act like the plot demands, the mysterious effect reappears and sucks them back. Thanks for copping out on the ending via a Deus Ex Machina! I was worried that something interesting might happen! They return to the present- except for those that died- and we get the big reveal on who Sheen's boss is. It's Farentino's character, who has survived this whole time and become a rich guy. So, was he the boss all along? According to most views of time travel, that is completely impossible. Maybe, I should just say this...The End.
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This movie is good, but disappointing overall. This movie has a great promise, a great cast and good production values. The direction is solid as well, in the hands of Don Taylor. He had a mixed success with films ranging from the good (Escape from the Planet of the Apes) to the utterly awful (Damien: The Omen, Part II). The movie just refuses to delve into the potential of what they set up though, which is especially when you consider that this film is credited to four different writers. Couldn't one of you done a real neat bit or two? I may get some flack for this, considering the big, cult following that this movie has. While I consider it to be pretty obscure- much like The Black Hole- it actually has a release on Blu-Ray! Then again, they felt the need to re-release Caddyshack in high-definition too. Maybe we should save that for other movies, guys. Give this one a rent, but don't expect a big blow-out ending.
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Up next, a film about ghost women, killer scarecrows and naked women. That's a trifecta I can live with! Stay tuned...

3 comments:

  1. This film, which I haven't seen in years, is strangely similar in storyline to the Sonny Chiba action fest from 1979 entitled TIME SLIP. Based on a novel it's about a group of military men who are transported back to Feudal Japan and threaten to alter history. Yes, it's guns and tanks against samurai and ninja ingenuity.

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  2. I've heard about this movie, but never seen it. From what I have been told, it is not nearly as good or as funny as it sounds. I'll consider it though.

    By the way, it is also known by the funnier title of 'G.I. Samurai.'

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  3. Yes, that version is severely stripped down losing around 45-50 minutes of footage leaving nothing but the epic battle sequences. I did a lengthy review of it at my site. It was remade in 2005 and directed by Maasaki Tezuka who helmed three of the Mellenium series Godzilla pictures.

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