{"id":22770,"date":"2021-05-22T15:25:04","date_gmt":"2021-05-22T22:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=22770"},"modified":"2021-05-22T15:25:04","modified_gmt":"2021-05-22T22:25:04","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-the-final-countdown-1980","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=22770","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: THE FINAL COUNTDOWN (1980)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This Limited Edition 4K Ultra Blu-ray + Blu-ray + CD\nScore releasee from Blue Underground is available for purchase on May 25th<\/sup>,\n2021. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Blue Underground has been making waves over the past few years\nwith their 4K Ultra Blu-rays of various independent features. Past releases\nlike Daughters of Darkness<\/em> (1971), The House by the Cemetery<\/em>\n(1981), Vigilante<\/em> (1982) and others have received raves not only from\nthis outlet but other sites for their jaw-dropping picture quality. Simply put,\nthese films have never looked so good (even during their initial releases). The\nlatest to receive incredible HD treatment is the science-fiction war picture, The\nFinal Countdown<\/em>. Like all of the other titles from Blue Underground, it\u2019s an\nabsolutely stunning disc that will please any fan of the movie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story follows the members of the USS Nimitz, an aircraft\ncarrier about to leave shore and conduct naval exercises in the Pacific Ocean. Efficiency\nexpert Warren Lasky (Martin Sheen) is asked by a mysterious benefactor to\naccompany the sailors on the journey and report back after the mission. Once onboard,\nhe meets Captain Yelland (Kirk Douglas) and Cmdr. Richard Owens (James\nFarentino), who are both wary of his unexpected arrival. However, it isn\u2019t long\nbefore everyone is distracted by more bizarre occurrences. After passing\nthrough an anomaly in the ocean, they find themselves out of radio contact with\ntheir naval base. The group notice Japanese aircraft in the air and begin to\nsuspect that they\u2019ve traveled back in time to the day before the attack on Pearl\nHarbor. The group also come into contact with a ship carrying a noted US senator\n(Charles Durning) and his secretary, Laurel (Katharine Ross). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This feature benefits greatly from having the support of the US Navy. Much of the film is actually shot on a working aircraft carrier at sea with a real crew onboard. It results in a remarkable amount of authenticity as well as some great visuals. Cameras are also mounted to the planes and the movie features incredible aerial photography. So, the added production value of the real location adds incredible production value and ends up making the feature look far more expensive than it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The script itself doesn\u2019t focus much on the personal lives\nof the participants or their back stories. Instead, the emphasis is firmly on\nthe crew\u2019s response to the unusual predicament. Although there are hints of personal\nrelationships between characters, we don\u2019t deal with any superfluous conflict\nor budding romances. Instead, the leads are purely focused on figuring out what\nis occurring and how to best handle the bizarre situation. This is more than enough\nfor them to deal with, which feels like an authentic approach to the material. It\nleads to some intriguing conversations between those in command about what\nmight happen if the well-armed aircraft carrier decides to get involved in the\nproceedings, step in to save lives and potentially alter history and the\nparadoxes that could occur. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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During its original release, some critics and audiences had\nissues with how the movie deals with time travel and the plot mechanics, but the\nthoughts of the characters and ideas being addressed actually hold up extremely\nwell. There are brief moments of action and excitement (including a couple of unavoidable\nand violent interactions with enemy forces) that are realistically handled. The\ncast manage to keep the tension levels high even if much of what is going on are\nconversations involving discussions and analysis of potential moves. And there\u2019s\na fun little sting at the end too. With an interesting plot, solid work from\nthe cast and impressive photography featuring an amazing amount of access to\nthe ship and its crew, this little feature makes an impression and it\u2019s easy to\nsee why it has developed a following. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Blue Underground present another stellar 4k transfer of the\nmovie from the original camera negative. The ariel photography looks incredible\nand so crisp that the footage looks like it could have been shot recently. Obviously,\nthe visual effects involved in traveling through time portals were created\nusing older techniques, but they still look stylish, clean and in many ways\nmore convincing than the common digital add-ons seen in today\u2019s features. A lot\nof love and care went into presenting this movie on 4K and regardless of\nwhether you watch the HD version or the regular Blu-ray included, it looks phenomenal.\n   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As previously mentioned, this was an independent production\nmade for far less money than it might appear. The cast participated because\nthey were intrigued by the project and wanted to do something outside of the\nHollywood system. The bonus features on the disc go into detail about how those\ninvolved managed to get the most out of the budget. There\u2019s a commentary track\nwith the director of photography Victor J. Kemper (Dog Day Afternoon<\/em>, Slap\nShot<\/em>, The Jerk<\/em>, National Lampoon\u2019s Vacation<\/em>, Pee Wee\u2019s Big\nAdventure<\/em>, Clue<\/em>) about how he became involved and managed to light\nand shoot footage on the working naval carrier. You\u2019ll learn that the cast and\ncrew had to wait and run into rooms or race on the decks quickly to capture material\nwithout getting in the way of the working sailors. It\u2019s a fun and enlightening\ntrack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a lengthy and very amusing interview with Troma\nEntertainment President Lloyd Kaufman, who worked as production manager on the\nmovie. He is very straight-forward and blunt about the difficulties involved in\nan independent film, making his comments very entertaining to listen to. He describes\nwhich actors were pleasant to him and those on set whom he didn\u2019t get on well with.\nAccording to the filmmaker, an unexpected friendship grew between himself and co-star\nKirk Douglas. Kaufman also suggests that journeyman director Don Taylor (Escape\nfrom the Planet of the Apes<\/em>, the 1977 remake of The Island of Dr. Moreau<\/em>)\nwas nearing the end of his career and claims that a couple of the lead actors were\nthe ones who really got the film properly performed and in the can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Viewers also get interviews with some of the pilots of the\nJolly Roger fighter squadron who agreed to have cameras placed on their planes to\ncapture the extraordinary aerial footage. There is also a ton of publicity material\nfrom the movies release including trailers, TV spots and galleries of still and\nposter art. Additionally, the release comes with an informative booklet that\ngives more background information on the feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If that wasn\u2019t enough, it also includes a CD of the score. Blue\nUnderground have done this a couple of times now and this bonus is a really\nwelcome one. The orchestral score by John Scott (Greystoke: The Legend of\nTarzan, Lord of the Apes<\/em>) is an excellent listen and it is wonderful to\nhave this music as an extra feature (in fact, I\u2019m listening to it right now as\nI\u2019m writing this article). Any soundtrack collector will be thrilled to add\nthis hard-to-find score to their collection. The effort made to include it in\nthe package is much appreciated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Final Countdown<\/em> is a very enjoyable independent feature\nthat keeps one engaged throughout and looks far more impressive than one might initially\nanticipate. Blue Underground have done another incredible job with this \u201cLimited\nEdition 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + CD\u201d release, making the title one of the best to\ncome down the pipeline in recent months. Let\u2019s hope that more little films can\nget this sort of treatment in the months and years to come, helping these less-publicized\nefforts build an even bigger following with the young and old alike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Limited Edition 4K Ultra Blu-ray + Blu-ray + CD Score releasee from Blue Underground is available for purchase on May 25th, 2021. Blue Underground has been making waves over the past few years with their 4K Ultra Blu-rays of various independent features. Past releases like Daughters of Darkness (1971), The House by the Cemetery […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":22771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[111,697,879,2923,2928,3073,3202,4038,4122,8963,10224,11492,11823,13324,15882,17772,17775,17783,20685,20686,20687,22915,23474,23619,23959,24483,24534],"class_list":["post-22770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-111","tag-action","tag-aircraft-carrier","tag-blasts-from-the-past","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-blue-underground","tag-cd","tag-charles-durning","tag-hd","tag-james-farentino","tag-katharine-ross","tag-kirk-douglas","tag-martin-sheen","tag-pearl-harbor","tag-sci-fi","tag-science-fiction","tag-score","tag-the-final-countdown","tag-the-final-countdown-blu-ray-review","tag-the-final-countdown-review","tag-time-travel","tag-ultra-hd","tag-uss-nimitz","tag-war","tag-world-war-ii","tag-wwii"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}