Love-Hate relationship with plenty dislike

Rating: 6/10 (9 March 2013)

Pearl Harbor is a tough one for me. On one hand I fall victim to the scenery, the set pieces, the historical relevance and time setting, and Kate Beckinsale - but mostly the first three. Like many history buffs, I love a good WWII set film, and the 1941 environment in beautiful Hawaii is so visually pleasing, it can easily be the focus of your attention as a movie goer.
Then there's the acting, the shotty love story (and although I'm no feminist nor a chauvinist, the story doesn't portray Kate Beckinsale's character in a very positive light as a female), the clichés and the historical inaccuracy and utter absurdity i.e. Dan Aykroyd sitting in some intelligence room just "not buying" what he's reading on the decoding machines. At many times it's difficult to sit thru, similar to the complete cheese content of Top Gun.
As far as the actual action shots go (and I use the term action not in reference to the action film genre, but just scenes in which battle action takes place) they are not nearly as poorly done as other films. There is a good amount of live action material so the viewer is not overwhelmed, or should I say underwhelmed, by CGI nonsense. The P-40 or Spitfire scenes are fun and interesting to watch, although not all that accurate, but they still are visually pleasing. Much more true to life than the likes of, say, Red Tails.
In the end, I think the only reason Pearl Harbor squeaks by with a 6 is the setting, the beautiful visuals of the island of Hawaii or the 40's set pieces, and the massive historical relevance of the Pearl Harbor incident.
All of those positives must be actively searched for while wading thru piles of canine excrement in the form of sub-par acting and God-awful clichés (Josh Hartnet's "I think WWII just started" is repeatedly mentioned and rightfully so) along with many historical and factual inaccuracies, all of which are easily pointed out by anyone that knows much of anything about history, aviation technology etc.
6 out of 10 solely for the setting and historical story behind all the terribly "Hollywood stuff".