To callPearl Harbor a throwback to old-time war movies is something of an understatement. Director Michael Bay's epic take on the bombing that brought the United States into World War II hijacks every war movie situation and cliché (some affectionate, some stale) you've ever seen and gives them a shiny, glossy spin until the whole movie practically gleams. Planes glisten, water sparkles, trees beckon--and Bay's re-creation of the bombing itself, a 30-minute sequence that's tightly choreographed and amazingly photographed, sets the action movie bar up quite a few notches. And in updating the classic war film, Bay and screenwriter Randall Wallace (Braveheart) use that old plot standby, the love triangle--this time, it's between two pilots (Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett) and a nurse (Kate Beckinsale) who find themselves stationed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, during what they thought would be a nice, sunny tour of duty. Then, of course, history intervened.
For the first 90 minutes of the movie, Affleck and Beckinsale find a nice, appealing chemistry that plays on his strengths as a movie star and hers as a serious actress--he gives her glamour, she gives him smarts. Their truncated romance--the beginning of which is told in flashback so we can get right to the point where he has to leave her to go to England--works, thanks to their charm. They're no Kate and Leo fromTitanic (a strategy the film strives hard toward), but they're pretty darn adorable in their own right. Hartnett, as the not entirely unwelcome third wheel, squints bravely but makes only a slight dent in the film. Everyone else inPearl Harbor--from Cuba Gooding Jr.'s brave navy seaman to Jon Voight's able impersonation of FDR--is pretty much a glorified walk-on, taking a backseat to the pyrotechnics and action sequences that keep the three-hour film in fairly constant motion. But when that action does take hold,Pearl Harbor is quite a thrilling ride.--Mark Englehart
Bad&beautiful With this over-polished, commercial representation of American history, director Michael Bay and his sponsor Jerry Bruckheimer have given us an 'event' picture that is, in typical Bay and Bruckheimer fashion, a mindless, artistically arid film that runs twice as long as its material deserves. An event as important as the attack on Pearl Harbor is done an injustice when its inherent gravity and drama is stuck in the backseat in favor of a trite, cliched love triangle saturated with gloss and bloated self-importance.
"Pearl Harbor" works for the 30 minute sequence in the film's middle when the Japanese attack, but is mind-numbingly bad for its other 150 minutes, when all attention is placed on the shoulders of the picture perfect, overly beautiful triangle of Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett and Kate Beckinsale. It is all predictable and shallow, and filled with dialogue that is as original and intelligent as a loaf of Wonder Bread.
"Pearl Harbor" fails as history, falls flat as romance and drama, and lacks even a drop of intelligence or creativity. It is well photographed, and technically competent, especially in the attack sequence; but on the whole, it is a monstrous, over-inflated failure.
A thoroughly well-made action-drama [...]Having watched it the first with the lowest possible expectations,I was quite surprised how much I enjoyed as much as to watch it again and again and again and again.This has got everything you could want in a movie: action, tears, romance, laughs, and unapologetic patriotic American fervor. Granted, it's not Tora Tora Tora or Saving Private Ryan(which I happen to enjoy both),it's not 100% historically accurate(but tell me which Hollywood movie about an historical event is?),and Michael Bay is no Steven Speilberg(well at least Mike didn't give us A.I.),but its still a solid,moving 1940's-style epic with great actors/actresses like Ben Affleck,Jon Voight,Josh Hartnett,Cuba Gooding Jr.,James King,and especially Kate Beckinsale who made me swoon with her talent and beauty,and made the cliched love story work somehow.The 40-minute Japanese war raid on Pearl Harbor is a terrifing scene to behold;especially when the Japs drop a bomb on the USS Arizona,crashes to the bottom of the ship,a cook is shocked and scared,and KA-BOOM,the Arizona is sunk!Other one is is where an innocent young nurse is killed by the Japs gunfire. While the movie isn't anti-war,it is not going to make people want to experience war anytime soon.[....]Awesome deleted scenes This is the DVD to get, it has the deleted scenes of the love affair between Doolittle (played by Baldwin) and Beckinsale - the child Beckinsale carries was actually Doolittle's, not Josh Harnett's - in this restored, original version
