can't say it's awful

Rating: 6/10 (23 April 2005)

Maybe it's because I watched it with little or no expectation, but I thought this film was OK. Great visuals, cool effects and just plain nice to look at. You could've freeze-framed many scenes and used them as wall painting. I loved the aerial shots of the planes flying over the blue ocean through the smoke in-between the burning ships. Really cool. Sure it was a little long, the pacing could've been quicker and the script better, but it was still fun to watch. Maybe it would've worked better as a (big budget) television mini-series. The pacing and sub-plots made me feel like it was one. And the retelling of the events leading up to, during and after the Pearl Harbor attack seemed fairly accurate, except for the side story about the love triangle of course. Even the Doolittle Raid, which I had thought was Hollywood's creation added to quickly give the audience something to cheer about, was an actual event that happened. So, despite Michael Bay's direction, it's a pretty good film. I've seen worse. Between 1 and 10 I give it a 6.