more bombs bursting in air and less drama

Rating: Null/10 (26 May 2001)

Rafe (Ben Affleck) and Danny (Josh Hartnett) play childhood buds whom grow up to become top gun pilots. Before Rafe ships out for Great Britain to help in the battle against Hitler, he meets and falls in love with a nurse named Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale). When they receive word that the Germans shot down Rafe's plane, they console each other in ways that go beyond the limits of friendship. Now, I will go ahead and tell you that the love story in this movie plays out like a daytime soap opera. Therefore, unless you see the deceased person in the box as he or she is being lowered in the hole, you shouldn't assume that he or she is dead. What am I getting at? Just when Danny and Evelyn are getting hot and heavy and looking at each other with japanimation eyes, Rafe comes back from the dead like Lazarus. While the love story develops, the Japanese are fast at work planning their attack. Then without warning the battle starts.
Before seeing this film, I hoped and prayed that it wouldn't get the same script treatment as Titanic did. I can tell you that my prayers weren't answered. Apparently, Hollywood doesn't believe that stories of historical significance can hold their own when it comes to film making. The movie is called `Pearl Harbor' and it's three hours long but of those three hours, the soap opera...I mean the love story.... takes up and hour and forty-five minutes of it. Every once in a while, Michael Bay, the director, decides he needs to remind his audience that no, they aren't in the wrong theatre, this is Pearl Harbor and throws in old war footage or government officials discussing the European fisticuffs . I hate to say it, but the love story is very bland and I am willing to bet money that right now, on one of the daytime soaps, this storyline exist. If Bay and Bruckheimer thinks this story held more attention than the actual war story, then they are seriously wrong. I found the short snippets involving the Japanese and U.S. factions more interesting than the love story. Not to mention that the love story really didn't go anywhere. Personally I wanted to learn more about the officials that were trying to get into the head of the Japanese admirals and captains, yet it was only touched on. Like Titanic, the historical aspect of Pearl Harbor is put on the back burner for a very over done soap.
I will say this much, once the hour and forty-five minutes pass, and we're given a break from the love story, this movie takes off in a big way. I really appreciated the way Bay created a sense of ignorance before the attack started.. I use the word ignorance not in a bad way, but to show that the Americans had no idea the Japanese were going to attack. He used scenes with kids playing baseball, women enjoying afternoon naps, men poking fun at each other. Even the pictures of the Hawaiian landscape are romantic to look at to soon be muttered with the Japanese air fleet. The bombing scenes take on a life of their own which goes to show that Bay and Bruckheimer know how to blow stuff up and keep you glued to your seat. I think they achieved something very important in this film in that they made the audience feel as though they were on The U.S.S. Arizona. They did this with a sound roster that will give any theatre sound system quite a work out. They also allow you to see the film from the point of view of the weapons ( I know that sounds weird but see the movie and you will understand). Once the fighting is over and the Japanese forces retreat, you are swept into the infirmaries. I appreciated the way Michael bay used the shakey camera technique to give the sense of urgency that went on in the infirmary. Some voices were very loud whereas others were muffled and died away like the dying soldiers. To be honest, it almost look like horror movie footage.

As for the acting, to be honest, I didn't have a problem with anyone. It was good ensemble acting. I will say that Jon Voight leads the pack with a great job as President Roosevelt. This movie should do wonders for the careers of Kate Beckinsale and Josh Hartnett.
So my ultimate opinion of the movie is this: if you can stand the love story going on forever and a day then you will enjoy this movie. If you have the taste for some kick butt war scenes then this movie is definitely for you. Overall it's a good movie. I just wish they would have spent more time on the events leading up to the war rather than the love triangle that muffled it.