MovieChat Forums > The Final Countdown (1980) Discussion > What's the point?

What's the point?

posted 5 years ago by Supratad (119)
4 replies | jump to latest

...of Mr Tideman coming to see off Laskey, or to make sure he goes aboard Nimitz?
Presumably from the point of Owen's birth, there have been two of him on the planet at the same time, 40 years apart. The film infers it was Tideman/Owen's will to get Laskey on board but from Tideman's POV, it's all already happened once before without him being old Tideman and from Owen's POV, he doesn't even know who Laskey is.

Laskey's presence doesn't seem that key to the story. He suggests the possibility of time travel early on, but its the recce photos and Owen's knowledge that confirm it in the Captain's mind. Laskey doesn't change or alter any situation at all, its not even his idea that results in Owens being left in the past.

[–] kwestmo (4114) 5 years ago

Time travel movies are meant to be enjoyed and not understood.

[–] twinA (4826) 5 years ago

That's the way cycles, ripple effects, and the general looping of history repeating itself works.

It all sorts itself out. Thinking and feeling collide to efference the natural conclusion; a pattern of set variables that can determine the course of the subject in question without knowing the outcome.

~~/o/

[–] overseas7 (3523) 4 years ago

I think he wanted to be sure that Laskey goes aboard Nimitz. What I do not undertand ist the fact that in that moment there have been two of them at the same time.

[–] ExTechOp (2737) 2 years ago

There were two Tidemans/Owens at the same time every since Owens was born, since his older self had already been stranded in the past. That's not a problem for this movie's time-travel logic. Actually, it's only a problem for "Time Cop" and "Project Almanac."

Tideman might have wanted to make sure Laskey got onto the Nimitz, but I think he just wanted to see the fateful moment for himself. He might also have wanted to make sure Laskey would recognize his limo upon leaving the Nimitz at the end, so he wouldn't think Charlie was being dog-napped.