Misc thoughts on Pearl Harbor

Rating: Null/10 (21 March 2002)

Here we have another huge megablockbuster with big stars and dazzling special effects and little else. Since this movie is not worth the effort to write complete, coherent paragraphs, I am just going to list some of the thoughts that went through my head as I was watching it:

This movie is three hours long. It would be half that if it weren't almost entirely filmed in slow motion.

Kinda reminds me of Independence Day, only this was slightly more historically accurate.

Many, many shots were framed with foreground objects or otherwised overly composed. Occasionally, this adds a nice touch, but done continually, it becomes annoying.

Ben Affleck used to do Kevin Smith movies, what the hell happened? (Chasing Amy was filmed on a budget of just over six dollars and it kicks ass. This movie cost more than the GNP of Sweden and it is mediocre at best.)

Toward the end when they bomb the Japanese, you just see buildings blowing up, but not the peril of the inhabitants like in the Pearl Harbor attack scenes.

Most of the women were very thin like modern models. In 1941, the ideal of beauty was to have curves, not to be super-skinny like today.

Did the Japanese really do their military planning in an open courtyard?

This movie was very pro-war. Though WWII was probably a good war.

Certain scenes remind me of scenes in Top Gun, another Bruckhiemer movie.

At one point, Affleck's character gets one of those TV cop show speeches from his commanding officer: "You blew up the mayor's limo, burned down half of the east side, crashed two police cars, and destroyed a wedding cake. Good Job McNulty."

All in all, this was another very big formulaic movie with lots of stuff in it.