Rating: 
Summary: Another director's cut
Review: Why can't they showed us the director's cut at premiere of the film? Does that mean we audience paid to see the movie in cinema do not deserve to see a perfect version of this movie? Or the director finally realized how to have the movie cut afterwards? If that is the case, how can this be a great movie to enjoy, let's watch The longest day, Tora!Tora!Tora!, Paton, Midway, Battle of the Bulge, these are great WWII movies without any director's cut, this text refers to theatrical release.
Rating: 
Summary: "A Disc That Will Live In Infamy ..."
Review: It's hard to imagine anyone chocking more material about the making of a major motion picture onto a series of discs (this has 3 separate commentary tracks for review, and they're all worthy of the time).It's also hard to imagine how this cut -- the director's version -- was hacked down to what was shown theatrically. Granted, not everything brought back to life was absolutely necessary to advance the story, and there are still some great ... um ... er ... interpretations of what happened throughout the Doolittle Raid. Alec Baldwin, despite a handful of additional screen time, is still unconvincing as the legendary Jimmy Doolittle, but (thankfully) Dan Ackroyd's and Jon Voigt's additional screen time are welcome additions. There's certainly more tension in the build-up toward the attack, and there's a wealth of additional battle scenes (one of them nearly entirely reconstructed to bring out a different focus) that make the discs worth the investment. While PEARL was dealt a fairly critical lashing for its self-indulgence, Director Michael Bay takes a baby step toward redemption in this Vista Series addition, but what still misses the mark is the love triangle. Like a bad 60's love story, it just didn't compute. Perhaps if the script had provided more substance to Kate Beckingsale's character or a stronger motivation for her falling so easily into Danny (Josh Hartnett) for comfort, the situation might not have seemed so forced, so engineered. But, despite its flaws, a restored PEARL is a wonderfully crafted World War II epic whose newly envisioned battle sequences (much of the footage reinserted into this cut) compete artistically with those from SAVING PRIVATE RYAN in at least the "emotional aftershock department." ... and the extras. Wow. Hours and hours and hours to go.
Rating: 
Summary: Vastly overrated film
Review: Maybe I'm missing something, but I felt as though Pearl Harbor was totally overrated. It was filled with a cheesy love subplot (if you want to go see a recent love movie this long, go rent Titanic) that was so cliche that I couldn't believe it was actually not editted from the movie. I was hoping to see a movie that dealt with the Pearl Harbor incident and didn't focus so much on relationships and love, but what should I expect with a "blockbuster" hit that Hollywood produces. Some of the points in the plot, particularily towards the end (don't want to give anything away) were so unrealistic that it almost seemed comical.I'm not knocking movies that deal with relationships because I do like them, but this movie was really a boring movie. There are many movies that never make it to the show that are far better in realism and expression than this. It's just another Hollywood attempt to throw some big stars on screen and cash in some bucks. Well it worked; too bad the movie didn't.
Rating: 
Summary: OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR'S CUT!
Review: Let's be honest, this movie was dumped on by critics. Granted, the film may have concentrated too much on a love story more than Pearl Harbor itself but it is still epic. Michael Bay has done a tremendous job with this film. He has kept the history of Pearl Harbor as accurate as possible, giving to us the attack with astounding visuals due to unlimited technology. The dialogue could have been better but Bay tried to keep the story as it was happening during the 1940's. COME ON! There was love, there were brothers together in the military, best friends with a difficult relationship, it HAPPENED at least ONCE, lets not forget that. Moving on to the DVD. This is the ULTIMATE DVD EXPERIENCE! I have never seen such a beautiful construction in my hands before. First of all, you get what's coming to you, the Director's Cut. FINALLY, an R-Rated version, the way Pearl Harbor was intended to be seen. We can't blame Bay for releasing a PG-13 version because it was the studio's demand that he do that since it cost over $100 million to make WHICH MAKES SENSE! You want all the audience you can get! But anyway, this cut is a lot better, less love story, more gore: The scene with Danny and Evelyn talking in the care is gone, as well as Rafe burning the letters from Evelyn as well as their conversation afterwards near the end of the film. We get more dialogue from Colonel James Doolittle and the other sailors as they prepare for the raid on Japan. Of course, we get much more graphic in the attack of Pearl Harbor, a young man's severed head, men's bodies spinning out of control due to the bullets and explosions, etc. In a specific scene when Cuba Gooding Junior's charater comes to the Captain's aid you see him holding his intestines; you notice when the men are hit by non stop bullets above, Bay makes it more graphic with blood. There is also more swearing in this version as well. Bay has given us the film with over 60 new shots and he got the job done. The picture is outstanding of course, the 5.1 Dolby Digital Soundtrack is spectacular, NOT TO MENTION THE NEW HEADPHONE SOUNDTRACK THEY PUT! NOW YOU CAN PUT ANY SET OF HEADPHONE INTO YOUR TV AND LISTEN TO 5.1 SURROUND AND FEEL LIKE YOU ARE IN A ROOM SURROUNDED BY SPEAKERS, ALL IN A LITTLE PAIR OF HEADPHONES! It is incredible. 3 audio commentaries which gives a total of over 9 hours of commentary! You get Michael Bay with his professor if I remember correctly, Jerry Bruckheimer, Josh Hartnett, Ben Affleck and Alec Baldwin( I still wonder why they didn't have Kate Beckinsale in the commentary) and the third consists of other filmakers as well as the movie's composer and I can tell that the musical score is STUPENDOUS! That is the first two discs containing the movie, not to mention some hidden Easter Eggs such as a Letterbox introduction and a Gag Reel which is hilarious. Starting on Disc Two you get the original features from the first DVD, Journey to the Screen, Music Video and a preview of National Geographic (The History channel documentary that came in the first DVD comes in Disc Three with a new Documentary). You get the theatrical trailors as well. Then you come to all your glory, mini documentaries with commentaries, behind the scenes footage, film backgrounds, Super 8 montage with unused footage, etc(the third and fourth disc) etc. You get Deconstructing Descontruction conversation with Michael Bay and other filmakers, a segment which gives you the complete attack sequence in three angles: the movie, behind the set as it was happaning, and storyboards in preparation for the scene. You can watch just angel, or all three at the same moment, not too mention you have over seven audio tracks, three of them with commentaries, and the others you can have just the movie soundtrack, just the music, or the special effects. And you have you poster concepts, Art Gallery full of photos. There is plenty of history documentaries with a distinguished timeline with unlimited resources. I have not even finished seeing all of the features yet. It is endless! OVER 12 HOURS total of non stop entertainment! Not too mention the DVD's packaging with a little booklet giving details of the DVD's features as well as four collectible postcards contained within this cool belt in the package with the colorful poster pictures that were out when the film was released. IN the end, an OUTSTANDING DVD. Michael Bay receives 10 STARS for this DVD release, I must say they really put an EFFORT into this edition... Bottom line, ALL THE CHEERS FOR MICHAEL, THE CAST, AND CREW AND EVERYONE ELSE INVOLVED FOR A JOB WELL DONE!
Rating:
Summary: Great Collector's Item
Review: This Director's Cut edition of Pearl Harbor is a must-own for any fan of the movie. Even if you own the original DVD release, you should still get this, especially since you get a ... rebate for upgrading. The casing for this set is a collector's item in itself. It's supposed to look like the journal of a WWII soldier, and includes four commemorative postcards. The four-disc set includes everything that was on the original DVD, plus several hours of extra features. Probably my favorite addition to this collection is the attack scene deconstruction. You can watch this 30 minute scene either as it appears in the movie, an on-the-set montage, as a storyboard and animation sequence, or as a combination of all three. Then you can choose to hear along with that the sound from the movie, just the sound effects, on the set sounds, or a choice of several different commentaries. You should also enjoy watching the director's cut version of the movie with many shots that were edited out in the original version. You'll notice many of them as soon as you see them. I just have a few complaints about this DVD set. First, I still don't understand why the movie has to be split up onto two discs. It's annoying to have to get up in the middle of the movie and change discs. I realize that the movie is 3 hours long, but there has to be a way to get around cutting the movie in half. Also, with a 4-disc set I guess I was hoping for a few more special features. Some deleted scenes and outtakes would have been nice, and maybe an opportunity to use the multi-angle feature that DVD players are capable of that rarely gets used. Features like these definitely would have made this worth the extra money. Still, this is a great movie. I know there have been complaints about "dramatic license", but let's face it--if movies based on real-life events stuck strictly to the facts, they wouldn't be very entertaining; they would just be history lessons with expensive actors and special effects. If you take away the fictional storyline, Pearl Harbor did a great job of relaying the historical facts from every possible angle. If you enjoyed the movie as much as I did, it just might be worth paying an extra few dollars for the Director's Cut.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic DVD package
Review: Other have gone into the differences between the theater release and this director's cut. I will only say that a great film has been made even better. Seeing some of the blood and injuries in the attacks make them more real and believable. How anyone can now view it and not be moved is unthinkable. The commentary tracks and the extra features such as the History Channel program on Doolittle's raid are worth the price of the package alone. A few special things. Anyone looking for the "Why Letterbox" feature on the first disk - it is hidden. In the main menu go to "set up", press enter, in the next menu there is a red star in the lower left, highlight it and press enter to get the short feature. A second hidden feature is on disk 2. Go to the "special features menu, highlight the Faith Hill music video then use the right arrow to go to the blank space. A red star will appear, press enter and get a "gag" feature. ... One final word about the "love story". It is really nesessary to show the human effects of the attacks. It is done in the style of the flims made at the time of the event and echoing the dialogue of those films. If you had not been made to care about the characters, what happens during the two attacks would lose a lot of it's meaning.
Rating:
Summary: Average At Best
Review: Pearl Harbor is a movie unlike many others. Most films are fast and entertaining in the beginning and end, and slump in the middle. At the end of Pearl Harbor, I was bored. The best part of the movie occurs at about 90 minutes into this three hour monster. The attack on Pearl Harbor is absolutely thrilling and fast-paced. It will also bring out the patriotic soul in all of us. The attack lasts for 45 minutes and is the best part of the film. The problem with this movie is that the first 90 minutes and the last 45 minutes come no where near the excitement or involvement of the attack sequence. The love story is filled with cliches and it monopolizes most of the film. Josh Hartnett and Kate Beckinsale are fair, but Ben Affleck flounders. Rent this movie; do not buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Hokum "Harbor" But Good Extras
Review: Michael Bay's crtically lambasted film about the events, leading up to, and following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, suffers from being too much like TITANIC. Besides the historical subject matter, there is a love triangle, and a predictable ending...Rafe McCawley (Ben Affleck) and best friend Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett) are ace flyers in the Air Force. Nurse Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale) falls in love with Rafe, who goes off to England, to fight in the war. When he is presumed dead after being shot down, she eventually falls in love with Danny, and after a time, Rafe returns...Gee who would have guessed that would have happened. I have no problem with the movie's historical aspects, but the other storyline was just too predictable, for my tastes. Another problem for me was its whole attempt to make a fresh "B" story, that ultimately falls short, due to some dreadfull dialogue. The actors are OK but no one person really stands out here Bay seems more comfortable with the historical stuff rather than the personal stuff and it shows. The film has its faults and problems, for sure, but the attack sequence is very well done. These scenes are the best part of the film and are more emotional than anything else in the picture. Especially when one realizes how many people lost their lives on that fateful day, and in the context of September 11th, and our millitary fighting the "war on terror", its even more emotional to watch. The 4 disc "VISTA SERIES" DVD set breaks down this way: DISC ONE-The Director's Cut/R rated version (Part 1). The added footage consists of more graphic shots of the attack sequence. There are 3 commentary tracks (some of which were recorded one week after the 9/11 attacks). The tracks consist of comments from Bay and Historian Jeanine Basinger (track 1), Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Actor Alec Baldwin, Affleck, and Hartnett (track 2), various crew members Hans Zimmer, John Swartzman, Nigel Phelps, and Michael Kaplan (track 3). DISC TWO-The Director's Cut/R rated version (Part 2) Commentaries Continue. For the most part they are pretty good. The fact they include lots of different takes on the same film is a plus. Some of the stuff can be dry at times. The best is track 2, save for Baldwin's mostly out of context comments to the film.; the making of documentary from the previous release and the Faith Hill video for the song "There you'll be" (also Titanic-esque) DISC THREE-a production diary/actor boot camp footage, 2 History Channel programs about the actual event, DVD-ROM material and a featurette about the Nurses who were there as the attackk happened DISC FOUR-still galeries, a neat interactive timeline, an interactive attack sequence, the animatic version of the attack sequence, and a visual effects featurette with Bay and Supervisor Eric Brevig. Most of this material is well produced and quite extensive. As far as extras go, the set is vastly better, than the previous DVD release. The film is what it is, warts and all, and the debate will go on...PEARL HARBOR is not a favorite of mine but theVista DVD set deserves a look from fans of the film.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: I was very eager to see Pearl Harbor. I wanted to see how one of the most tragic days in American history would be translated to film. I was sure I would be satisfied with it... but I wasn't. Pearl Harbor is big-budget garbage. It takes a depressing day in history and turns it into a ... love story with pretty special effects. The attack on Pearl Harbor was entertaining, but not nearly enough to save this movie. Even the historical backround in the movie is off at times. Pearl Harbor should have been made similiar to Saving Private Ryan: cold, dark, and bloody. An R-rating would have helped, but Disney must have been too set on making Pearl Harbor a family film. Don't waste your time with Pearl Harbor, watch Tora! Tora! Tora! for a good take on December 7, 1941.
Rating:
Summary: BEST MOVIE EVER!!!
Review: I loved this movie! The cast was so talented and Josh Hartnett...*phew*...what a looker!! I NEVER cry at movies but i did in this one so you KNOW it's gotta be good. It's a bit funny, really romantic and very realistic since it's basically non-fiction. Words cannot describe how much I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS FILM!!!!!!!! Any one readin' this who hasn't watched Pearl Harbouse before, YOU HAVE TO RENT IT! (*not to give the ending away...but I feel sooooooooo bad for Josh, well, his character*)
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