the clichéd epic romance-story during real tragic history

Rating: Null/10 (28 December 2002)

No it is not the overpolished shots, nor the melodic sound track, nor the brave hunks libe Ben and Josh, nor the lacrymal effects of the death of one of the hero, nor the classical love-story, nor the underlying jingoistic heroism after the humiliating coward attack that make this film disappointing : it is the waste of so much talent and money.
The acting is fair and mostly credible whereas the story is so cliched. Ok yes you can feel a few emotions but it seems so "Bruckheimered" that I find it hard to really identify myself during the emotional scenes. If you don't see what I mean just imagine the slow-motion camera on the hurt soldiers + hans Zimmer music and you will already fancy the revenge of the sleeping giant (the US). Or you could imagine the third role good black guy (Cuba Gooding, Jr) who should also be entitled to be a true American hero by shooting one plane.
Anyway besides the clichés and once you forget the historical inaccuracies, you could have "the epic romance story during tragic history" style of film, and that's where the shoe pinches because the epic soufflé never rises and the romance is predictable, contrived and too melodramatic !
Understand me, the movie is not that bad : you get more at watching it fully despite the 3 hours long than watching the trailer. It works as long as it aims at entertainig and has even some good points : the battle scenes are impressive (and even should I say it : nice),and the film is also a respectable tribute to the American heroes of WW2. Ben Aflleck is rather convincing, every shot of the film is like a Hawaian postcard. So bad the clichéd storytelling entangled all that.(6 out of 10)