Twaddle...

Rating: 2/10 (3 July 2001)

Unfortunately "Pearl Harbor" has to be the most cringe-inducing load of "God bless America" twaddle to come out since "Independence Day". I must admit that I wasn't expecting a war movie of the impact or sincerity of "Saving Private Ryan" but "Pearl Harbor" far exceeded my expectations of mediocrity. The script was acheingly bad, the acting wooden (mind you they didn't have a huge amount to work with) and the underlying Stars and Stripes flag waving was quite frankly sickening. Sure, the action sequences were impressive but produced more of a feeling of watching a computer game.
It really is a shame because as a historical event, Pearl Harbor has the scope to produce a riveting movie. "Tora Tora Tora!" remains the best adaptation of this infamous day in the Second World War, whereas "Pearl Harbor" comes across as an overly long, and quite frankly embarassingly patriotic pile of rubbish. I am sure many people will jump up and down and say that this wasn't meant to be a jarringly realistic portrayal but at the same time all the filmatic elements of "Pearl Harbor" are just plain bad. In my opinion though it just doesn't do justice to the men and women who were a part of that horrific day.