Pains me to say this: What a letdown.

Rating: 6/10 (4 April 2003)

Pearl Harbor had one of the best trailers I've ever seen. The John Voight voice over even gave it a verisimilitude of a real FDR Fireside Chat. The shots and staging were some of the best of any film to date. Bruckheimer and Bay seemed on their way to hitting a grand slam.
Instead, they hit a single.
If you mute the soundtrack and script, most will agree that Pearl Harbor is perfectly filmed. The costumes, settings (modern Navy frigates aside), and feel of the film were perfect. The script, however, is horrendous. Ben Affleck delivers the worst lines in movie history. Beckinsale and Hartnett LOOK great, but have equally deplorable dialogue. Why in God's name would you make Pearl Harbor into a love story? It reminded me of the Saturday Night Live skit where they combined Crystal Pepsi and gravy to make "Crystal Gravy." Some things just don't mix.
No doubt, there are several well made scenes in the film. Voigt's FDR is actually reall good, but again, we have the perennial dialogue problem. The actual bombing is riveting, but then we return to the moronic love triangle that hangs over the film like a sword of Damocles. Alec Baldwin and Kim Coates provide throwaway characters -- perhaps the most shallow portrayal of Lt. Col. Doolittle possible.
I'm at an impasse because the film could have truly been so much better. Bruckheimer had good actors, big budget, well-financed production, and talented writers. Yet combined, he created anti-syngeries: The best looking film with the worst story.
I suppose it's impossible to expect every hit to be a grand slam. Bruckheimer did redeem himself with Black Hawk Down. As for Pearl Harbor, just catch it on HBO reruns. It's barely worth the rental on Video on Demand.