War is Hell

Rating: 6/10 (16 April 2016)

'Pearl Harbor' is a biopic which recounts the events of that tragic day on December 7th 1941, where the Japanese bomb the historical American base.
1. In the vein of 'Titanic', 'Pearl Harbor' has the same effect of having a fictitious love story in the midst of a factual tragedy. This time around, it comes in the pairing of Ben Affleck and Kate Beckinsale (who do make a cute on-screen couple to be fair). Keep in mind, the movie is 3hrs long so we mainly get scenes with the both of them at the beginning and near the end. The love story works well up until we get to the awkward and forced love-triangle involving Josh Hartnett. This is the unnecessary weight of the film that could easily be trimmed down to save on running time. Let's summarize the romance shall we? Your best friend (Affleck) aids the British army, is presumed dead after his plane crashes, you (Hartnett) use that as an opportunity to make a play on his mourning girlfriend (Beckinsale), then unknowingly get her pregnant after a month of having unprotected sex in Hawaii.
2. If there's one thing Michael Bay knows, it's action. Every action and battle sequence in this film is highly intense and really captures the feel of what this war could have been like. The theatrical version is tamed to a certain degree, but the director's cut is Rated-R and shows tons of blood and gore. Of course, the actually bombing of Pearl Harbor occurs in the 2nd hour of the film after the campy stuff.
3. The acting is nothing spectacular with the exception of Alec Baldwin and Jon Voight, who play Lt. Doolittle and President Roosevelt respectively. Affleck, Beckinsale and Hartnett are the leading characters (with the latter being the weakest) that we follow as the film progresses. If nothing else, I know women would like the romance in this film more than the guys.
'Pearl Harbor' is an okay/down-the-middle type film and nothing else. Michael Bay delivers on the action and Hans Zimmer provides the breath-taking score to follow. Love it or hate it, but it exists.