Pearl Harbor

Rating:
Summary: It was bound to happen...
Review: With the glut of WWII movies that have popped up since "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Thin Red Line," there were bound to be some cheesy ones. Pearl Harbor, unfortunately, fits this bill. They took a story that needed no embellishment and embellished the heck out of it, to the point where you get a 3-hour movie with a story line that winds like a mountain road and has a terribly predictable ending.

If, instead of inserting a goofy love story, they had focused on the battle of Pearl Harbor and the subsequent events, they could have made an outstanding movie. Even a remake of Tora! Tora! Tora! would have been wonderful given the advances in special effects, but instead they chose to jam about two years of warfare (from the Battle of Britain to Doolittle's raid) into a three-hour movie, and subjugate the whole thing to a convoluted love triangle.

There were obviously some concessions made to keep the movie to a PG-13 rating, and I can't really complain about that; the director did the best he could, and made some nice decisions to portray the horror and confusion of the attack, while still limiting the gore.

Why do people keep casting Ben Affleck for these roles? Am I missing something? Josh Hartnett wasn't terrible (at least he was believable at times), and I will never complain about seeing Kate Beckinsale, but Affleck tries too hard to be emotional throughout the entire movie, and you can tell he's trying. His performance was downright hammish. He makes a good cynical smart-aleck, but most intense emotions elude his range.

There are a couple of scenes in this movie that do stand out as excellent portrayals of history. This is especially true when Ben Affleck finally gets into the war with the RAF. The romanticism of the battle is immediately erased with the stark reality of what he has just entered. The battle scenes in general are very well-done, especially considering the constraints that the PG-13 rating requires, along with the variety of combat that was filmed.

As a whole, the DVD contains some interesting materials, including some historical stuff and a "making of" featurette, which make for some interesting viewing.

Bottom line: A subpar movie with a few good points and some solid extras included in the box.

Rating:
Summary: Skip this cartoon, see Tora! Tora! Tora!
Review: It took some doing, but director Michael Bay and company have turned this historical event, rich in story and importance, into a boring, trivial soap opera. In this film, the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor, the event that shook America off the fence into World War II, serves as a distant backdrop to a childish, stupid romance between forgettable young actors. Ben Affleck turns in another white-bread, adolescent, self-absorbed performance. Will this guy ever grow up to realize there is a big world beyond him? The female lead, Kate Beckinsale, is forgotten the moment the film is over. To say the film lacks weight is being kind. The filmmakers seem to have no understanding of what Pearl Harbor was to this country and wished instead to make a music video. Lastly, this movie serves perfectly to show the limits of computer generated special effects. Leave computer graphics to movies about hobbits and trolls. When trying to recreate history, you have to really blow things up. In Pearl Harbor (the film) all the explosions and air battles are brightly colored, but there is no sense of reality, of danger, of real things blowing up. If you want to know how this kind of film should be done, see Tora! Tora! Tora! instead. That was a serious film about a serious moment in history (plus the explosions and destruction happened in "real time")!

Rating:
Summary: Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941...
Review: Remember the stories that you've heard about that day, December 7, 1941? Remember the stories you've heard about when the United States of America was attacked by Japan? This movie explains it all in explicit detail along with the outstanding special effects. The movie lets you experience the real-life events that occured on that morning in Hawaii. Michael Bay did a great job bringing this movie to life along with the crew and cast members.

The movie starts out with two best friends: Rafe McCawley (Affleck) and Daniel Walker (Harnett) who are training for air combat in Rhode Island. The date right now is January 1941. Rafe has to go to England to fight in RAF of England against Germany (Rememeber, World War II is being fought in Europe even though the US isn't in the war yet).

Meanwhile back in Japan, the Japanese are planning the attack. It is pretty interesting how we see them planning this. They have a small pool with several floating plastic battleships all grouped next to each other just the way the ships are positioned at Pearl to see how they should attack. Then they show us how they altered the propelers on their air torpedoes so they can travel through the shallow water at Pearl.

Back in Washington D.C. the Naval Intelligence is trying to find Japan's two missing carrier fleets that are somewhere in the Pacific. They have some hunches but never give a warning until the morning of the attack. Now at Pearl, Rafe is BACK the night before the attack.

Now it's 7 A.M. on December 7th. Japan's 320 planes are heading straight towards Pearl. Everyone is sleeping and playing golf completely unaware of the attack. Here come all the planes flying less than fifty feet above the ground right by everyone and they're wondering what's going on. Now, the planes are surrounding battle ship row and the few men on deck either reading the paper or sweeping are looking up at the gunners and high level bombers surrounding them also wondering what's going on? They are all staring at the planes in shock. Now the first torpedo is dropped in the water. Here it goes traveling through the crystal clear water and it hits the first ship. Everyone wakes up! "We're being BOMBED! We're being BOMBED! GET UP!" Now all the planes are either shooting guns at all the men or the ships are being bombed. Remember that famous ship, The Arizona where over 1,000 men were trapped in when it sunk? Well, we see a Japanese high-level bomber drop a bomb on it and it blows up. The explosion looks like a big wave. The explosion of it is so INTENSE!

Away from battleship row are the airfields. All the US's planes and bombers are being blown to pieces. Meanwhile Rafe and Daniel are going to a mechanic airfield that hasn't been attacked to they can get in the air and fight back. See if they can with over 300 planes bombing Pearl.

Back in Washington D.C. the President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Voigt) is in total shock. The day after, December 8th, FDR makes his famous speech, "Yesterday, December 7, 1941. A date which will live in infamy. The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the empire of Japan (FDR Decemeber 8th)." Now only one thing is one everyone of the US's mind.: WAR!!! See what the US will do to avenge Pearl Harbor. This movie has it all. The movie is full of outstanding special effects, great action-packed scenes and is definately another great History movie. Always remember the historic day that brought the US into World War II...Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.

Rating:
Summary: Great Director, Great Producer, Good Cast, BAD MOVIE
Review: Well, Mr. Bay & Mr. Bruckheimer, I really did expect a lot more from this movie when I saw your names on it. I'm sorry to say that you guys disapointed me a little.
Ok, the reason I gave it at least 3 stars is that the special effects are great and the love story triangle between Rafe(Ben Affleck), Evelyn(Kate Beckinsale) & Danny(Josh Hartnett) brings a good drama into the movie, the cast is very good, but...
BUT
why did you name the movie "Pearl Harbor" something that's supposed to be based on an actual event and pretty much messed up the real story, including F.D.R.'s famous speach? And another big mistake is that little "2-men hero" [show] that Ben & Josh managed to pull off during the attack. Not that it didn't really happen, but the whole thing pretty much concetrated on those two. I don't know if you're aware but in the ACTUAL attack there were more than 2 men that deserve at least some credit. And I'm not even mentioning the Japanese military which was so greatly played by Chinese actors and extras.
Oh well I'm still one of your big fans, but you definetly [messed] this one up.
I DON'T THINK YOU MADE THE VETERANS HAPPY EITHER!

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Perfect
Review: This movi was great!!! I can't believe what Hollywood did with this movie. Some of the parts were a little boring, and they did not put much of a story behind one of the characters, but the action part was great. The battle part was so well done. I tink think this movie is awsome, so by it today!!!

Rating:
Summary: A Total Bomb!
Review: I saw this lame movie last night and was blown away by how weak it was. The lines were so trite that I actually felt embarrassed for everyone who was involved in this film. It was so "Hollywood". There was never a moment in the movie when I was not acutely aware of the fact that it was an over-inflated production. In other words, I never lost myself in the story. Also, I thought the attack scenes were awful. I mean, jeeze, whenever a plane was fired upon, the cockpit always exploded. The cockpit!? That would not happen. The fuel tanks are in the wings, not the cockpit. How stupid!!!

Rating:
Summary: Quality Film
Review: I think a lot of people out there have totally forgotten what a movie is for. ENTERTAINMENT! If you want 100% historically accurate, go watch a documentary on the history channel.
For the most part, this movie is accurate. Sure, there might be some small details that are not perfect, but as a whole, it does a very good job of showing us what it was like on Dec 7th 1941 at Pearl Harbor.
Some people also seem to expect and hope for extremely graphic, bloody, and gory scenes like Saving Private Ryan. Anyone with a brain has a pretty good idea what warfare can do to the fragile human body. The people in the movie were still dying. I personally didn't miss or need extremely graphic images to get the point across.
The love story side of it... Ok, so what? I thought it was done well enough. Certainly at least as watchable as the love story in Titanic.
I thought all the acting was quite good, especially John Voight as F.D.R.
I think a lot of people haven't even seen this movie due to some of the lousy reviews it's received. Also, the rhetoric from people that may not have even seen the film certainly seems to influence many. See it for yourself and make up your own mind!

Rating:
Summary: Historically accurate my .....
Review: This movie should never have been made. It is an absolute travesty, and a slap across the face to every American who lived through the attack on Pearl Harbor. What makes it worse is knowing that the Pearl Harbor Historical Society (or Memorial, I'm not sure which it is) pointed out all the inaccuracies before the movie was completed (which were many and, in some instances, quite significant), and those responsible for making the movie refused to make a single change.
Good old Hollywood - never let the truth get in the way of making a buck.

Rating:
Summary: Do NOT Buy This Movie
Review: This movie is an insult to the light that it captured, and all is the fault of the scriptwriter. Do not buy this movie for these reasons:

1. The "I love him/her dammit" insistance of the failed love story between Beckinsale/Affleck.
2. The battle scene at Pearl Harbor, which was horribly inaccurate (people being strafed by 20mm cannon fire do not simply fall to the ground, they fall apart before hitting the ground)... one saving grace: The Destruction of the U.S.S. Arizona... the Saving Private Ryan moment of the film.
3. The film's attempt to be a love-child of Titanic and Saving Private Ryan.
4. Beckinsale's diatribe at the finale while the camera pans through the modern wreckage of U.S.S. Arizona... obviously concoted for the flagwaving movement started by Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation", a book that praised the WWII American Generation as the best people on earth at any time.
5. Beckinsale inventing triage at the Naval Hospital. I am not convinced.

Rating:
Summary: A good argument for the DVD format
Review: While far from historically accurate and not even much of a good love story you get a lot of mishmash in Pearl Harbor. While nowhere as annoyed as many reviewers and accepting that films take license with reality Pearl Harbor was an acceptable film.

The acting is neither terrible nor good, split right down the middle, probably more to do with directing than acting. The script can't decide if it's a love story or war film although by the trailers and teasers it appeared to be a war film, especially as the press junket tours indicated.

That is the biggest problem, deceptive marketing.

What Pearl Harbor reminds me of is 30s and 40s war films brought to technicolor and with lots of gloss in modern Hollywood style.

There is good news with the DVD sets however. The material including two History Channel documentaries, the cursory making of documentaries and much more are uniformly excellent and provide more insight and entertainment than the film.

To conclude. Based on your acceptance of how films are made you'll love or hate it, or if you can get out of technical mode and just watch Pearl Harbor for entertainment you'll probably feel you saw a decent film. If you're a history buff you will be offended and if you're a love story fan you will probably be annoyed to some degree with all this annoying and gory war stuff going on. It's easy to understand the outrage some history and war buffs have and they have every right to be angry at being marketed by a film that is half romantic fantasy - and not as horribly realized as some make it out to be - but edited or scripted poorly. I suspect editing but have to give all negativity to the direction of this film. It is the director's job to give a film it's tone, it's character and to do so by making decisions about what kind of story to tell. Unconventional writing isn't a bad thing, three act books, plays, films are often the stereotypical kind of things many people object to here.

Pearl Harbor was made to make money and anyone who thought otherwise is foolish. Films like "Saving Private Ryan" are the exception to the norm, they are great films - period. Pearl Harbor is war story lite.

Th main reason to buy Pearl Harbor, especially the 4 disc set is for the documentaries and shorts that do a vastly better job of telling the story of Pearl Harbor. They are less ponderous than Pearl Harbor, the film.

Film: 2 1/2
Extras: 4
Print to DVD: 4