A moving World War II epic

Rating: 1/10 (17 November 2003)

I have to wonder how much of the criticism of this film is a personal attack on Affleck and not actual analysis of the film. I thought the romantic triangle and the relationship between Affleck's and Hartnett's characters were quite moving. The action sequences were exhilarating and the film had a look of authenticity to its period. I am not enough of an historian to know if every depiction is factual. Perhaps it wasn't politically correct to set a romance in such a sensitive setting in US history as Pearl Harbor, a la Titanic, but still the zeal of the critics seems overblown. I even thought the Japanese perspective was given fair consideration. On another note the later use of atomic weapons on Japan was justified, even Japanese generals later agreed, as it saved countless American lives that would've been lost had a conventional force tried to take the archipelago. I think it even saved many Japanese lives that would've lost resisting that invasion. On the film, my score: 8/10.