Pearl Harbor (Vista Series Director's Cut)

Rating:
Summary: Save your money
Review: I am from New York and it has been raining here all weekend. I had to see something and I rarely agree with critics , so I decided to see " Pearl Harbor". Big mistake. Do yourself a favor and go to another movie and hope to catch the "Pearl Harbor" trailer, those are the only good 5 minutes out of 3 HOURS! I can never get those 3 hours of my life back or the 20 bucks I spent(went with the wife), but save yourself. Wait for it to be on HBO, don't even wait for the DVD. One of the main problems here is that everyone involved in the film (with the exception of ILM) bit of more than they could chew. Not for one second do you believe that you are taken to another time in history. All the clothes were designed to start a fashion trend and all the nurses are waif models .... Ben Affleck was just plain BAD. I am not a person who thought he was a bad actor, until now. He was exposd in this movie worse than Cindy Crawford in Fair Game.

Rating:
Summary: Complete Jingoistic
Review: ZERO STARS, PLEASE.This is the kind of pseudo-patriotic fakery that gets people killed. .... This was done for money, pure and simple. Bad ideas, bad history, bad dialogue, bad script, bad music. A truly bad movie made for all the wrong reasons, it is Hollywood at its most overblown ...the quintessential last sixty some odd years of this kind of nonsense, confident that there's still some ...out there (and we know there's plenty) ready to buy into it hook line and sinker.

Rating:
Summary: As shallow a movie as the harbor itself
Review: Pathetically shallow in terms of the historical consequences of the battle itself. Very disappointing, will they every stop trying to recreate every battle sequence in the "Saving Private Ryan" genre'. Even the love story ticks you off, thought maybe the Signal Major was next on her list. Although I have to admit the theater had some very tasty if somewhat overpriced popcorn...

Rating:
Summary: Save Your Money
Review: Pearl Harbor takes a solemn event with many true heros, and turns it into an unwatchable soap opera. This movie would have been much better had the female lead been written out of it, and if they had bypassed the hour long detour about Doolittle's Raiders at the end. This movie is one immense cliche, and I wanted to throw my shoe at the screen every time Kate Beckinsale's character came on. Her character is useless, as is the love story derived from her. Also, who's idea was it that Ben Affleck could carry a film? The greatest tragedy is that tremendous actors like Cuba Gooding Jr. and Tom Sizemore are playing second and third fiddle to Ben Affleck and Kate Beckinsale. Cuba and Sizemore are the only likeable characters, and they're in it for a half hour combined, tops. The Cuba character had a very compelling story, based on real life, which was totally ignored. The battle sequence is a treat to watch. However, it was obviously toned down. If you've ever been to Pearl Harbor, then you will understand that the event deserved a far more respectful treatment than it was given. I recently heard that the same people have the rights to "Black Hawk Down", which is an absolute travesty, because they will disrespect the memory of those brave soldiers as well. Pearl Harbor was an insult.

Rating:
Summary: Best part of this movie was the Planet of the Apes preview!
Review: Okay, maybe I could admit that there were some great scenes during the attack, and a really cute blonde ...and she's unfortunately a minor character. Basically, this was a perfect example of bad writing, put into action by someone's idea of "let's make another Titanic." They tried every trick in the book to make this one a crowd pleaser, unfortunately it was obvious how hard they were trying! It was nothing more than combining Titanic with Saving Private Ryan and Armageddon. But unfortunately, the great qualities of Saving Private Ryan could not save a movie so influenced by ...Titanic and Armageddon. The only characters they bothered to develop in this movie (and not really enough) were the 3 involved in the ...love triangle. Only Ben Afleck's character was able to drag any sympathy from me! The other two simply aren't likable. And what was with that piano music when Afleck was giving his speech about having dislexia to the nurse at the beginning? C'mon! The attempts to inspire patriotic pride in this movie were even more desperate than those in Independence Day, and at least that movie was fun! The acting of the giddy group of nurses was pretty awful. Cuba Gooding Jr., who normally doesn't convince me as a tough guy, he's just too feminine, was the best actor in this movie easy, but he didn't have much of a part. He seemed very attatched to one captain and they never explained why!This movie just did not flow well either! It went from the love triangle, to the battle, to the love triangle, to the battle, with hardly any connection! EVERY SCENE IN THIS MOVIE WAS TOO LONG! This movie on the whole was waaaaay too long! Especially when the ending was sooo predictable ... The only characters I was REALLY interested in were the blonde and her fiance. Seriously, the only real reason to go see this is if you're lucky enough to catch the Planet of the Apes and Tomb Raider previews before the show.

Rating:
Summary: Pearl Harbor
Review: I consider this movie to be about the middle of the road. It's not a complete waste of time, but it is not Shakespeare either. Two pilots fall in love with the same woman, then Pearl Harbor, and a subplot that feels a little like it was tagged onto the ending to provide resolution. The actual bombing of Pearl Harbor was about what I hoped it would be, my only complaint about that part is that the camera whirls around a lot, making it difficult to focus on anything. I understand stylist reasons directors choose this method for presenting battle, but it goes on for quite a while. We don't really get into the situations of the men involved in the battle beyond the pilots, and we only see two of them make it into the sky (guess which two). It's already been said, but I'll mention it as well, Cuba Gooding is really underused. The build up to the title event is not really a build up at all. One pilot courts a nurse. That's fine, except that we go through the whole thing again with the other pilot courting the same nurse. This takes so much time, and distracts from what the movie should be focusing on. After the bombing has occurred, the movie goes on for a while more, and resolves it's tangled triangle the easy way. I think the movie is okay, but lacking in a few ways. Regardless of how I feel about the movie, I will defer to the veterans and their own feelings about it.

Rating:
Summary: When Abercrombie & Fitch goes to war
Review: It sure is pretty... but the story ...and there's more chemistry between Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett than between Ben and Kate Beckinsale! The entire last hour coulda been cut...

Rating:
Summary: a woman's point of view
Review: I drove from a small town in B.C. where this movie would not be shown for at least two months to a larger city three hours away to see it. I had been looking forward to seeing this movie for the last couple of weeks, and I wasn't disappointed. The battle scenes were incredible, and the air battles were breathtaking for me. I wanted so badly to be in the airplane with whomever was flying it. As for the love triangle that we all hear so much about, it was enough to make me wish that I was in love with someone. I left the theatre and drove home feeling lonely. The scenes with Cuba Gooding Jr., which I read so much about weren't clear enough to me, and while he is an amazing actor, I didn't feel that the character he was playing was explained or focused on nearly enough. About an hour through the film, I realized that a triangle can't always remain a triangle, and this saddened me. I left the movie feeling somewhat melancholy, as though no ending could be a happy ending. All in all, this movie, and the real men and women who lived through (and didn't) pearl harbor will remain in my mind for some time. I also imagine if they hadn't had to have a PG13 rating, the film could have expanded further. I didn't know very much about Pearl Harbor when I went into this film, but if the visual effects were accurate then I understand much better how easy my life is in comparison to sixty years ago. I also hope that it never happens again.

Rating:
Summary: Leave it to Disney to ruin an important historical event
Review: This movie was basically two and a half hours of horror. The movie went from nearly bringing to me to tears to making me want to run out of the theater. The love story in the movie down played the historical aspect of the movie. Pearl Harbor was not about happy Disney but about young men dying and giving their lives for the U.S. It is a shame DIsney even released this movie. I would have rather watched Tora Tora which is a true account of the event. Shame on Disney for ruining one of our countries darkest days. At one point I was waiting for the Japanese to bomb Disney World. Don't waste your money.

Rating:
Summary: Movie Critics get it wrong - again!
Review: My wife and I thought this was a GREAT MOVIE! We'd give it 4 1/2 stars, maybe 5. The character development, acting, and 1940's sets were all worth the price of admission. The attack on Pearl Harbor is reproduced incredibly well and is very educational to those who really didn't know the extent of the horrors of that historic day. Take off 1/2 star for some of the black and white footage from the History Channel. Otherwise, a great epic! See it, you won't be sorry.