Fair to Middlin'

Rating: 6/10 (21 February 2002)

"Pearl Harbor" seems to elicit passionate opinions on both sides. Some think it's fantastic. Others think it's trash. I'll opt for the in-between.
What they tried to do here is use the "Titanic" schtick. Take a historical event, whip up a love triangle, throw in a British actress named Kate and -- voila! -- instant success, right?
Not really. But it's not as bad as some people say. The attack footage is amazing. It plops you right into the events as they unfold. But man, it takes a looong time to get there.
If you rent the DVD and forward right to the fight scenes, you won't miss much. If you choose to sit through the entire movie, just know that it drags in spots, and it undermines its own credibility in scenes like the one where FDR rises from his wheelchair to prove a point. (That never happened.)

What bogs down this movie is the amount of time spent setting up the event for which the entire film was made. "Pearl Harbor" didn't need to be three hours long. Maybe someday they'll do the opposite of "Apocalypse Now" and release a version that's 50 minutes shorter. Until then, keep that fast-forward finger limber. You might need it.