An insult to the men and women who served and died that day

Rating: Null/10 (2 May 2002)

I recently watched the excellent, almost documentary-like take on the attack on Pearl Harbor "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and was compelled to view 2001's Pearl Harbor again just to compare the two and get a feel for just how awful this Michael Bay-ized version of history is. Simply put, it's complete garbage and is insulting to those who served at Pearl Harbor and throughout World War II. The audience that was the target for this movie must have been considered to be monumentally unintelligent. I am amused by a previous comment written by someone who calls this the best movie of the decade. Of course, in the span of one paragraph of effusive praise for this movie, this person misspells a half-dozen words, misspells every actors' names, and even incorrectly identifies this war as World War I. This seems representative of the type of audience the producers were going for. The only redeeming portions of movie are the battle scenes. The airplane battles above Great Britain give one the sense of being an observer in a plane right next to the battle. Much of the actual Pearl Harbor attack is well-done, too. But, as Roger Ebert noted, it becomes '40 minutes of redundant special effects'. "Tora! Tora! Tora!" was produced in 1970 (well before top-of-the-line special effects) and yet the battle scenes were more compelling. What's even more compelling is the story of the buildup and mistakes that led to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which "Pearl Harbor" overlooks almost entirely in favor of D-grade romance that would not even cut it in today's soap opera's. Without any 'character-driven' roles and almost a documentary-style feel, "Tora! Tora! Tora!" manages to be one of more compelling war movies of all time. If you really want a good accounting of that 'day of infamy', rent "Tora! Tora! Tora!". "Pearl Harbor" is just an unabashed waste of time.