Reception
Although promoted as a summer blockbuster, The Final Countdown had mixed reviews from critics, but it did well with a public seeking an escapist movie. Vincent Canby from The New York Times considered it more of an interesting, behind-the-scenes tour of the Nimitz. "We see planes landing and taking off with beautiful precision and, just to let us know that things don't always run smoothly on the Nimitz, we also see one plane, which has lost its landing hook, landing safely anyway because of the ship's emergency gear." Roger Ebert classified it as a "logic doesn't matter in a "Star Wars"(-like) movie". He went on to clarify: "Unfortunately, the movie makes such a mess of it that the biggest element of interest is the aircraft carrier itself." Later reviews concentrated on the intriguing aspect of the time travel story, again stressing the military hardware was the real star. The U.S. Navy sponsored the film premiere and exploited the film as a recruiting tool to the extent that The Final Countdown poster appeared in U.S. Navy recruiting offices shortly after the film's release.
Read more about this topic: The Final Countdown (film)
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“Aesthetic emotion puts man in a state favorable to the reception of erotic emotion.... Art is the accomplice of love. Take love away and there is no longer art.”
—Rémy De Gourmont (1858–1915)
“To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be made by the reception of beautiful sentiments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)