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Pearl Harbor (Vista Series Director's Cut)

Pearl Harbor (Vista Series Director's Cut)

List Price: $39.99
Your Price: $35.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nine Lives
Review: I had been waiting to see Pearl Harbor for a while, with all the hype and all. I finally have seen it and it definetely did not live up to the hype it created. The Pearl Harbor attack scene made the movie for me. For those of you who enjoy special effects of this magnitude, it's worth renting. Otherwise, its a sappy cliche' love triangle story. Im sorry, but Ben Affleck's character suvives not one, but two plane crashes?!? That was a little more than I could swallow. A good rental for me but that is all.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Poignant, entertaining, and accurate
Review: Going into this movie I was thinking about what several others have said: it's a knock off of Titanic, and not worth the time. But, there were some people who told me that it was a great movie, and well worth the expense. So, I rented it on DVD, and spent an evening watching it. It was a very good movie. Like Saving Private Ryan, it is a tribute to a generation who is being forgotten in this day of modern technology.

The Department of Defense allowed the movie to be filmed on location in Pearl Harbor, and filming was done on an active aircraft as well. Most of the extras in the film were military personnel too. Having the government so helpful in the production of a movie is rare. The DVD has a good "Making the Film" section that talks a great deal about the efforts put into the film to make it realistic, and accurate.

When you watch this movie (again, or for the first time), put yourself in the place of someone in the military during the early 1940's. Spend a little money, and a little time to honor a generation that made extreme sacrifices for this country.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: worst movie of all time, does not deserve even one star
Review: this was one of the worse movies of all time. the only good
thing about it is that can be a beanch mark for bad movies.
in the future when i see a bad movie, i can say it was almost as bad as pearl harbor.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Despite The Movie's Downfalls...
Review: The Pearl Harbor DVD (60th Anneversary Collector's Edition) stands out as one of the best DVD presentations I've seen in some time.

Before I continue with my review, I should note 2 facts:

1) I did not like any of the previous films I've seen by the duo.

2) I visited Hawaii for two weeks in August, including Pearl Harbor.

The Movie: When I first watched the movie on my television (without surround sound), it was EXTREMELY hard to hear. The dialouge was soft to begin with, and then these theatrical geniuses took the "Tennesse" theme and blasted it 100 decibles louder than the dialouge. However, I'm told with surround sound it is excellent in terms of sound. The sound quality is impressive however. The movie itself does drag quite severally in the beginning. I was expecting it, from reading other reviews of the movie when it came out, so it wasn't as bad. But still, it was like throwing an hour and a half of "Casablanca" in front of "Die Hard". Think about it.

Then Dec 7th rolls around. The tension leading up to the bombing is magnificent. The huge numbers of warnings both noticed and unnoticed lets you understand why "military intellegence" is an oxymoron. The battle scene itself is everything you've heard about it, and more. It's absolutly the best single battle I've seen in a movie. It's about 45 minutes long too.

The rest of the movie is actually intresting, they shy away from the love story finally (Which even is in the battle near the end), and get into a very intresting military documentary type of movie. I enjoyed this segment almost as much as the battle.

The end, is predictable to say the least. I was cracking up near the end as the infamous "I'll do this to save you but I'm going to end up getting killed" motion was played about 20 times back and forth between the two main characters in the matter of about 30 seconds.

The historical inaccuracies in this movie are not only bad, but extremely noticable. FDR's Sept 8th Joint Session speech, for the most part, is Wrong. He simply did not say some of the things that were put in the speech in the movie. My grandparents who were around during WWII nitpicked for the first hour and half all the innacuracies. This shouldn't be used as a teaching material about the WWII era in the least. Not to mention there were no Hawaiins in the movie. You'd think with a movie named "Pearl Harbor" you might see some. THREE STARS

The DVD: (Menus) The menus are well done. Simplistic, yet they have beautiful pictures of WWII aircraft and Hawaii running in the backround, along with the nice musical theme.

(Chapter Selection) There are about 45 chapters in the movie, which makes it easy to switch the battle scenes to watch again.

(Making Of) The making of segment is nice, and long, its intresting to see how they made all the ships tip over and stuff. I didn't know that the movie actually was taped in Pearl Harbor which was intresting.

(Music Video) There's a Faith Hill music video of "I'll Be There" on the DVD. I'm not particullary a fan of her music, but it has excellent video and sound quality.

(History Channel Documentary) This is another 45 minute feature about the Heroes of Pearl Harbor. In other words: "How The Characters in the Movie Were Ripped From The Headlines". After seeing this, it's like watching an episode of "Law and Order". You know it really happened. The expand quite a bit on how the real life people the characters were based in. I enjoyed it. Again, this was difficult to hear with soft dialouge.

(Nat'l Geographic Preview) I don't know what this was supposed to be, but it was basically a "Buy the Pearl Harbor 4-DVD set coming out soon".

(Trailers) I left the trailers to last because quite frankly, they are some of my favorite trailers to date. They were not only well done but emotional and have high replay value.

The Teaser Trailer is about 2 minutes long, and features various shots of planes flying around and bombing Pearl Harbor, with the REAL FDR SPEECH in the backround (You know the one: "December 7th, 1941, a date which will live... in infamy.") this is my favorite of the two.

The Theatrical Trailer is as well done as the teaser, and is a bit longer. This trailer also incorperates FDR speech, but it's done by the actor who plays him. This one actually uses some of his Fireside chats. Most of his lines come from his meetings with advisors such as "How long can we pretend that we're not at war?" and "Does anyone really think we can win a war without losing life?". It shows some of the more upbeat pre-war scenes of the movie, but leaves a good portion to the battle itself. Well done, but I like the first better. 5 STARS

In Review: Movie = 3 Stars
DVD = 5 Stars
Overall = 4 Stars: Excellent DVD, Decent Movie.

Suggest Viewing: Teaser Trailer, Theatrical Trailer, History Channel Documentary, Pearl Harbor Movie, Making Of Pearl Harbor, Music Video, History Channel Documentary. (About 4 1/2 - 5 Hours Viewing Time)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great movie.
Review: After seeing this movie two times,I believe it's one of the greatest movies of the year.The action,special effects,and musical score are top-notch.The love story was captivating,and the casting was teriffic.The director did a great job of republicating Pearl Harbor circa 1941.I brought the DVD,and plan to watch it again and again.Whether or not it's historically accurate is not critical.The theme of the story does an excellent job of conveying Japan's surprise attack on Dec 7th,1941.Few movies compare to the impact and quality of this film.A high recommendation for only for any movie goer.My whole family loved this movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fantastic movie.
Review: This was a great movie.I know Pearl Harbor has received bad comments from the critscs,but I don't care what they say.This movie had everything.Good acting,gorgeous actors,cool Fx's.I strongly recommend this movie to everyone.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Missed opeortunities
Review: First,the special FX are indeed spectacular.Tucked inside this 3-hour movie is about an hour's worth of special Fx bonza.These scenes are quite literally jaw-dropping.It almost takes the other two hours of sappy love story worth the trouble.With a 135 million dollar budget and great topic,you would've thought Disney had a gauranteed hit on its hands.Unfortunately,all they had was a huge 135 million dollar blunder.The script is atrocias--it's hard to believe this form the same writer as Braveheart.Not even the trio of hot young hollywood stars can make you overlook the horrendous dialogue and the one dimensional cardboard out out characters in this movie you'll find some of the most cringe-worthy lines you could possibly image.It's hard to image how these actors were able to keep a straight face while reciting great lines.Needless to say,you'll get to hear more of these little gems during the movies 3-hour run.At one point the paralized FDR stands up from his wheelchair and utters"Don't tell me what I can't or cannot do."Its moments like these where you just laugh.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Awful
Review: This is one of the worst movies of 2001. A total waste of time and talent. Other than the bombing scenes there is no reason to view this terrible, boring, superficial film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Lousy love story, but the movie is spectacular.
Review: Amazing...I went to see it in the theature, then I saw it on video, and every time it left me breathless. The speacle effects are REALLY high-level, (as I'm sure you've heard already,) The filming is beautifull, and the music is really nice. If you haven't seen it already I'm sure you should. Add this one to your collection, you might be in the mood to see it sometime.
-love story-
sorry, lousy, un-realistick, and un-believable. It's the type that you prity much yell at the movie becuase it just messes up ALL THE TIME! it's the kind of romance that's sort-of unsatisfying.
HOWEVER! the movie is very... for the lack of a better word, the sence of reality is definently there.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good movie
Review: This is a good movie, long at times, but still a good movie to watch. All though a great movie in it's own right, Titanic is way better.


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