If you want to watch a movie about pearl harbour, don't watch this.

Rating: 3/10 (29 December 2005)

Before we start lets say this movie isn't a success. It does have its ups, but unfortunately it crashes like Ben Affleck's spitfire in the movie in most other areas.
The convoluted love triangle between Beckinsale, Hartnett and Affleck left me horrified that this was going to be yet another "Titanic". And yes, it was. As usual the film attempts to attract the female audience to the film with the romance, with the side effect of boring the whole theatre witless as this is played out with clichéd film-craft and wooden dialogue, not to mention some dire acting from Hartnett, who would have been more at home in a Pantomime than this idealised rubbish.
Of course the battle scene is impressive, with excellent CGI and very good film-making displayed. It was clearly well thought out and executed and the inclusion of Cuba Gooding Jnr as the heroic black seaman, although it sounds corny, is surprisingly entertaining. Unfortunately this trips over too, as the two "heroes" dogfight with the Japos over the harbour. Yes, that is historically accurate, in case you missed it that was sarcasm. The film then deviates on some strange tangent about the Doolittle raid, which while interesting, really had little relevance to the Pearl Harbour raid, and served only to set up the inevitable "NOOOOOOOO Danny don't die" moment.
In conclusion this movie is dire, watch Tora Tora Tora!, don't waste time and money on this.