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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: 2 stars
Summary: Touchstone ruins disaster movies!
Review: When I first saw Armageddon, i thought it was going to be a good disaster movie with plenty of action, but all it really was was Ben Affleck smooching someone. That is the same with Pearl Harbour. There is hardly no action, all there is, is romance and Ben Affleck asking a girl to go out with him. I wish some studios would trash the romance and put some mroe work into the disaster seens.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Ridiculous and shameful movie - the disaster of the year
Review: And now, ladies and gentlemen, let me present you one of the most pitiful big movies in these last years. A complete disaster. And a disgrace.

As soon as he starts shooting, Michael Bay takes the wrong direction: the title of his film is supposed to show us the wheels of the U.S. navy based in the Pacific. Instead we see some young, fanatized American boys playing heroes in army plane cockpits. When we see what's gonna happen to them next, this scene is nothing but laughable and useless and Bay could have done without it. After that we have nothing but sentimental, sugar scenes, lasting at least three long quarters until the Japanese come in with their planes. The film really takes off only at this moment.

Actually the Japanese attack on the Pearl Harbor base, which is the pretext for Bay and his technicians, to take a huge delight in action and special effects - the bombings were shot in the same place than James Cameron's "Titanic" - is there only to save a frankly foolish and unsignificant love story (a young nurse, pretty, devoted but real common, falls in love with two cute G.I.s; one of them sinks into the sea but comes back, in one piece and in top form - how can he do it? -, the other one gets killed in the end and everything turns out OK) we don't believe in for a single second. The movie is worth watching only for the long scenes of destruction of the U.S. navy, even if the heroism is truly base. But what can be the most unpleasant in this film is the attitude of the American high-ranking officers who, after the Japanese attack, launch out into a bloody vendetta. We all know what'll be next: the United States enter the war and follow the Pacific battle (see "The thin red Line" a much, much better movie), the beaching in Normandy (without even warning), and of course, the atomic bombs on Japan. This after-"Pearl Harbor" is explored by Bay the lousiest way but shows and tells us much about American soldiers, who think they have the status of gods nobody has the right to attack.

How could Hollywood be able to show so much despise, such a lack of respect to the memory of all the soldiers and civilian people who died during the bombings? Only for the purpose of big money - the film was a huge success -? And how could talentful screenwriter Randall Wallace (author of "Braveheart") get involved in a project like this? That is the main questions we have the right to ask to ourselves... About the actors, if gloomy Josh Hartnett (seen later in "Black Hawk Down") is very convincing and happens to be the only good point of the film, Ben Affleck and Kate Beckinsale are so simple that they turn out desperating and Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Sizemore and Alec Baldwin don't belong in there. "Pearl Harbor" is the kind of luxurious daub, desperately syrupy, with a window violence, to be urgently kept from a good distance. Instead watch again "Tora! Tora! Tora!" from Richard Fleischer (and Kurosawa) which, with the same story, avoids any lousy sentimentality, or see "The thin red Line" over and over again.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I've seen better
Review: I wouldn't really call this a big film, I would say it's more like an average film. While it succeeds in alot of ways (such as the effects, photography, film editing, & costume disign) there are also a lot of things that it fails on (such as the screenplay, and accuracy of the film). This film also went for the wrong audiance: teenage girls. Well having that kind of an audiance with a film about a sinking ship is one thing but your hitting (a man) below the waist by choosing that audiance with a war film. Don't get me wrong, stories of love and war are not all that bad, but when a love story takes up about 2/3 of the story then that's going a little too far.
The mistake with the love story didn't seem to be the only problem, but also the little things, such as how in the world did Ben Affleck get to Europe from America on a train? (some might argue that he takes the train to an airport station but the film never specifies that.) And what about the Dolittle Raid? it's slightly acurrate such as there were two plains that crash landed in Tokyo, but the pilots were captured by the Japs and remained prisoners until the war was over.
Anyways, this film balances out, it's not really my favorite movie in the word but I don't totally dispize it either, which is why I give this film a 3-star rating.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A movie that will live in infamy
Review: If a movie were made that focused solely on the Pearl Harbor bombing, it would be a documentary, and it would capture the horror of the dreadful event with accuracy and respect. But, this is a movie, and must be entertaining in some way.

And it is entertaining. The characters are often light-hearted (prior to the attack, at any rate), and the relationships between them are profound. The emotional impact is similar to Michael Bay's previous film "Armaggeddon," but strangely, the impact in this film is not as strong (perhaps because it is not new anymore). The film ultimately ends with a note of hope for the characters, and carries a message concerning how a previous generation sacrificed itself for the sake of the new generation. This message also holds true for the Pearl Harbor battle itself.

The romance story may buffer the attack's horror and implications, and that is probably the film's greatest fault. It does provide an excellent montage of the attack, since it provides the point of view for the Japanese, the Americans, the President, the individual sailors, the main characters, the naval cryptological office, the victims, and the attackers. The attack sequence itself is a remarkable scene. The special effects are certainly impressive, and is chilling to watch as the ships in the harbor are bombed mercilessly.

The theatrical rendition of this film showed only a little of the peril and terror that the American sailors must have felt that day. The R-rated cut, however, reveals some very gruesome images that embelish the horror of the attack.

The attack sequence is certainly the promiment scene in the whole movie. But I was ultimately surprised and pleased that the film addressed the Doolittle raid, which I otherwise knew nothing about. It added to the historical accuracy of the film and made the whole story much more complete.

I found the film very satisfying and enjoyable. It was factual on many levels and it managed to capture most of the various elements that surrounded the battle (even moreso than other films I have seen, such as "Tora Tora Tora!"). I rank this as my personal favourite war movie. Others may not enjoy it for its seemingly faux romance story or others may not think it's enough of a tribute to the actual battle. I still reccomend at least seeing it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Josh Hartnett is so cute!
Review: A pretty good movie overall though I think they could have cut out some of the romantic [stuff]. Cuba Gooding Jr. was excellent. Ben Affleck was alright and Josh Hartnett was great. (and cute.) The digital effects were great or as great as it gets if you're blowing people up.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Fair Movie, Less Than perfect DVD.
Review: The feature itself try far to hard to fold in the Love theme that made the movie Titanic so rewarding, but the love triangle that Michael Bay set to the background of the December 7, 1941 bombing of pearl harbor fell far short of holding my interest, I found the entire side story to be quite bland and the big payoff is only at the end when Hartnett's character finally meets his demise. The dialouge in the movie also sub-par and even corny at times. The action scenes in the movie are incredible and worth watching the movie, even if it means sitting through nearly ninty minutes of chick flick.

The DVD is a two disc set and the feature is spread over those two disc, why I have know idea. With the abscence of any commentary the movie fell within the disc compacity. i alaways frowned at the idea of having to change disc halfway through a movie and it is just not needed here. The special aren't too bad. First we have the documentary, Journey to the Screen: The Making of Pearl Harbor which is your standard behind the scenes special, there is also a full length histry channel special about the unsung hero's of Pearl Harbor, some trailers, and a muisc Video by Faith Hill.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: GREAT MOVIE ALL AROUND!!!
Review: I thought that this movie was great! I can't believe that so many people hated this movie! I thought that the acting and special effects were great! The cast was strong, and each actor portrayed their character wonderfully. The love story was the love triangle that everyone complains about, but it was classic and touching. For all of the people out there who only liked the 30 minute attack scene... did you really expect that the whole movie was going to be like that?? I personally think that Michael Bay did a great job recreating that devestating day and the events after it. This movie definately deserves 5 stars!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good movie... Could have done without the love story, though
Review: Excellent movie. It features everything that makes up a good one, in fact. The planes were fast, the bullets were plentiful, and the explosions were loud.

"Pearl Harbor" tells the emotional story of December 7th, 1941, and the events that led up to and followed it, mainly from the point-of-view of Rafe and Danny, two friends that were stationed at Pearl. The attack scene was incredible, the effects were awesome. It felt like I was there. They showed everything, from the Zeros flying in, making their approach, to the deathly quiet burning debris after the attack. The whole attack scene must have been about 1 hour.

While the movie was excellent, there was an excessive, over-the-top love saga, if you will, that I believe the movie could have really done without. It took the focus off the main subject of the movie, which was Pearl Harbor if any of you couldn't figure that out. I suppose this love story was an attempt by Hollywood to turn a bloody war movie partially into a chick-flick so everyone could enjoy it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: It's not even worth the 1 star..
Review: What a waste of time! FDR's "Day Of Infamy" speech is without
a doubt one of the most famous speeches in U.S. history, and
yet the makers of the film "Pearl Harbor" couldn't even get
that part right? The war almost seemed to be a bother to the
producers of this film, who were obviously more interested
in the cheesy love story than anything that had to do with
what this film should have been about? Sure, the scenery was
pretty. And it's hard to argue with the impressive graphics
during the actual attack, although at times it took on more
of a video game look than actual movie scenes? But if our
superhero pilots weren't super enough, their transformation
from fighter pilots to B-25's so they could save the day in
the Doolittle Raid gave the film a comedy feel (hmmm, maybe
"Pearl Harbor" was MEANT to be a comedy?), as did the highly
funny scenes of love interest Kate Beckinsale getting a front
row seat to hear the radio play by play of the actual battle?
Do the words "radio silence" mean anything? I dont recall
the actual Doolittle Raiders talking plane to plane like that?
And wasn't it sweet of Josh Hartnett to fly air cover for pal
Ben Affleck once his B-25 went down? YEARIGHT! =) The bottom
line is that if you're looking for a cheesy love story, "Pearl
Harbor" fits the bill. But as a war movie or piece of U.S.
history, "Pearl Harbor" belongs in the "fiction" section. I'm
sorry you guys couldn't get it right..

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not bad
Review: This movie was not a complete waste as many people are putting it. It was a very good look at the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the attack we made on Heroshima(spelling?) afterwards. The only downfall of the movie was that it was 3 hours long, and for about an hour and 45 monutes, it is all about romance and relationships, which in my opinion, has nothing to do with Pearl Harbor. But I do understand why they through it in there. It was basicly to give the teenage girls something to watch(Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett) and the guys something to watch(the bombing and action scenes) But the movie all-in-all was not bad at all.

Directed by Michael Bay(Bad Boys, Bad Boys 2, Armageddon) he does a better than average job directing a piece of unforgetable history. And put together by the legendary producer Jery Bruckheimer and his team, who did all of those awesome action and suspense movies such as Con Air, Crimson Tide, Bad Boys, Bad Boys 2, Enemy Of The State, The Rock, Armageddon, Black Hawk Down, and many others. They definatly do not fail in putting together the story of Pearl Harbor.

This movie wasn't the greatest, and I will admit that the previews definatly conned a lot of people into seeing this movie by leaving out the fact that it had a HUGE romance plot to it, but in the end, the movie turned out to be succesful.

"PEARL HARBOR" runs for a little over 3 hours. It is rated PG-13 for strong war violence, language, some disurbing images of wounded people, and some sexuality.


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