An insult to the event

Rating: 1/10 (2 September 2001)

When previews for this movie began to appear in theatres, I was excited. I mean REALLY excited. Finally, here was a movie that would show what the attack on Pearl Harbor was like, portray the event as it really happened, pay homage to all the men, American and Japanese alike, who died there.

Then I started reading the reviews. "Overdone" was a word I came across a lot. And there were the comments from the other girls at school: "Oh it's soooooooooooooooooooo sad! It's just the most beautiful love story and oh my GAWD does Josh Harnett ever look hot!" At this point I started to worry. I even vowed that I would not see the movie. Oh Lord, how I wish I'd stuck to that vow.
First of all, this movie should not have been called "Pearl Harbor." It has next to nothing to DO with the battle of Pearl Harbor. Would anyone like to know how much time that battle takes up in this three hour monster? About twenty minutes.
Secondly, it shouldn't have been marketed the way it was. The trailers for this movie made it appear that it would be about the battle and the people who fought in it. Nope! God forbid there be anything useful and historically accurate like that. No, what we have here folks is a soap opera. It's kind of like "From Here to Eternity" (great movie) only horrible. Here is our basic plot: Best friends in the air force. One goes off to Europe to fly with the RAF and is supposedly killed, only the audience knows he's not really dead because he got top billing. "Dead" guys buddy has affair with "dead" guy's girlfriend. She gets pregnant. "Dead" guy shows up to announce that he's not really dead. They fight. Oh, and then the Japanese pull a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, but who cares?! Obviously not the writers, director, producer, or anyone who could have stopped this blasted thing from being released.
There's so much more I could say, but I do have a word limit here. The one good thing, in my opinion, is the way the Japanese are portrayed here. Not demonized as one thinks they'd be, but shown for what they were: human beings.
In closing, I want to say that I have done my homework on Pearl Harbor. I've read the books, I've seen TV specials, and I've interviewed a survivor from the Oklahoma. I can say with all honesty that this movie is a complete insult to the event and all the men who died there, and if this is all that the American public cares to know about something that was so important to our history, we are in deep trouble.