Overly dramatic acting left what could have been a serious story into something cartoonish

Rating: 6/10 (10 November 2019)

Went in expecting a version of "Pearl Harbor" minus the romance. Went out wondering, perhaps alongside the romance, the editing dept. got snip-happy and hacked the film apart, only to have to tape it all back together again without much attention. Hard to follow even with BIG PRINT on the screen, as more often then not, those scenes were on the vast Pacific, not much to help the audience; planes, ships, submarines were suddenly one place before appearing/disappearing with little comprehension/logic.
When the main actor, playing the role of Dick Best is unlikeable due to a fifties actor mockery, all brash, every word delivered from the side of his mouth, more hammed than all of Easter, yet none of the underlying charisma, can't invest much emotion. Nick Jonas matched in over-stated cheese'mo. Woody Harrelson was doing his best Bruce Willis impression, making that same Bruce face - no real effort at acting, a semi-smile leaking out of every shot. Real shame as I love Woody.
Squeezed in a subplot about bombing Tokyo, with even a tighter fit, landing in China and squeezing in a scene that would get it onto the Chinese big screen. Unnatural.
Code breakers bit could have been interesting. Editing could have made sense and not assumed the audience would fill in the blanks as would fans of Pacific military engagements.
No reason a movie, a re-make, which was shooting for historic accuracy, couldn't have been well played on the big screen. Does an actor; director; producer ever sit back and watch the final product and sink into their chair and whisper, "WTF, that's not how I imagined it would come out?"