Bomb the love story, but move over Private Ryan

Rating: 9/10 (25 May 2001)

When Saving Private Ryan came out, everyone said how the first scene of the movie actually took you to the beaches of Normandy on D-day. That it definitely did, which makes it a superb movie. Now, that same amazing way a director can bring their audience inside the movie has been done again.
Pearl Harbor, a true American tragedy where over 300,000 American lives were lost. For over and hour, director Michael Bay takes you to the heart of the attack on Pearl Harbor. You feel the chaos, agony, loss, hurt, pain, grief, and the struggle between life and death. This is truly the best part of the movie, along with great historic footage they cut into the movie.
The plot surrounding the three main characters though was something that could have been better. It is very reminiscent from director Michael Bay's two other films, Armageddon and The Rock. Pearl Harbor and both those two other movies all take the same plot twist; the beautiful young girl waits for her boyfriend while he is off saving the world. Proof? Armageddon, Liv Tyler waits for both her father, Bruce Willis, and boyfriend, Ben Affleck. Both are on a mission from Nassau to destroy asteroids headed for earth. The Rock, Nicolas Cage's pregnant girlfriend waits for him to come home from dismantling highly toxic air bombs that could change Los Angles from the city of angles to the city of corpses. Pearl Harbor is very similar to this, but that's as much as I'm telling you. The difference I see though from Bay's earlier films is that the heroine of Pearl Harbor, Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale) is a very strong women, unlike the female roles in both Armageddon and The Rock. She is able to hold her own all the way through the movie, she is a simply remarkable character, this has much to do with the writing, not the direction. The friendship between Rafe (Ben Affleck) and Danny (Josh Hartnett) was a wonderful thing. Many movies today seem not to develop characters enough. They leave many relationships empty and worthless, but this one was far from it. Like what was said before though, the love story could have been better, and if wasn't for that, the movie wouldn't have been so long. The supporting cast I can't say enough about. Jon Voight, Cuba Gooding Jr, Dan Akroyd, and Alec Baldwin all are amazing, and some of the best scenes in the movie include them. Over all, Pearl Harbor was an absolutely amazing film. Just about anyone can love this film, almost everyone can get something out of it. If your the underdog, the best friend, the lover, you will walk away from this film with almost every emotion in your heart.