A real mixed bag of a movie

Rating: Null/10 (3 September 2001)

This film is definitely a real mixed bag of the good, the bad and the downright nauseating. Certainly it is very well made with that `big budget' look, and the actual aerial attack sequences are superbly and realistically done. However, I found the sometimes (obviously deliberate) shaky camera work in the action scenes to be very distracting and headache-inducing. This was clearly intended to give the viewer a feeling of the chaos and confusion that must ensue when you're in an aerial dogfight or at the business end of an air raid, but I simply found it extremely annoying, because all it did was make it difficult to see what was actually going on. Some of the other reviewers on this page have complained about the historical inaccuracies, and while this may be valid criticism up to a point, come on people! This is Hollywood!!! If you want to see a documentary about Pearl Harbour, watch the History Channel or buy `The World At War'!! There is always going to be some degree of `artistic licence' in these big-budget blockbuster movies because they're trying to offer something for as wide an audience as possible in order to speedily recoup at the box office the massive cost of making the thing in the first place.
I did however find it a little long-winded in places, occasionally to the point of tedium. There was little real chemistry between Kate Beckinsale and either of the two male leads. Ben Affleck plays (as usual) Ben Affleck, and the other guy looked like he'd just stepped out of some `boy band' (very anachronistic). In fact I felt that all three leads were poorly cast. My favourite character had to be Earl, played by Tom Sizemore (a greatly underrated performer in my view, who is convincing in any role that he tackles). Alec Baldwin does a pretty good job as Col. Doolittle, despite being forced by the scriptwriters to deliver more than his fair share of sickeningy `patriotic' lines. And I can only agree with the other hack who, like me, was reaching for the puke bucket during some of the supposedly `romantic' moments because of positively vomit-inducing lines like `I think it's my heart that hurts' and `If I had just one night left on earth, I'd want to spend it with you' (who gets paid to write this crap for heaven's sake???!!!). Even my wife, who's normally into the romantic stuff, was cringing in her seat on hearing such dreadful dialogue. I have to disagree with the reviewer who criticises the film-makers for `tokenism' with regard to Cuba Gooding Jr's character. I seem to remember reading somewhere that a black sailor did indeed perform similar heroics during the actual attack, which would make this episode at least partly historically accurate. I also think the other reviewers who criticise the movie-makers for reducing the real-life victims to (and I quote) `worthless bits of digital code' and `flinging them around the screen to die with little respect' are being a bit silly. What were they supposed to do? To make the viewer `care about' each and every one of the 3000-plus victims of the Pearl Harbor attack within the constraints of a 3 hour movie would obviously be impossible, and not to show any anonymous extras being shot / blown up / burned or bodies flying through the air would just be plain ludicrous in the context of such a movie. That's just criticism for the sake of criticism. To summarise, I'd say that this film is nowhere near being in the class of `Saving Private Ryan' and the 3 leads are very wishy-washy to say the least. But despite its obvious flaws, if you haven't yet seen it it's worth checking out to decide for yourself.