Derivative and offensive

Rating: Null/10 (3 July 2002)

Let's see...flying by to knock the hats off of superiors, being called in for a "reprimand" that turns out to be some kind of commendation, and then forcing yourself to go on after the death of your best friend...I liked this movie better when it was called "Top Gun."
There's even a guy who gets killed named "Gooz." Hmm.
(Bruckheimer originality score: 0.1 / 10)
I also found it highly offensive that the major African-American character in the movie (played by Cuba Gooding, Jr.) had important historical significance, but had much less screen time than individual scenes of the contrived fictional love story: an actual decorated hero at Pearl Harbor gained slightly more screen time than Beckinsale and Hartnett romping around on parachutes. Way to fight insulting and trivialized portrayals of non-whites, guys.
(Diversity score: -5 / 10)
It's accurate to compare this film to "Titanic," another movie that uses breathtaking special effects and oversentimentality in an effort to hide its stock characters and uninspired plot. Also like "Titanic," it reduces a significant historical tragedy down to a romantic period piece between a handful of uninteresting fictional characters we've seen on screen a million times.
The bottom line: When the second shot in a movie is directly lifted from a Spielberg film, you know you're in for it.