Why are American audiences treated as if they complete idiots?

Rating: Null/10 (27 May 2001)

The only thing that was effecting about Pearl Harbor was the subject matter itself. Pearl Harbor minus the visual effects and sound design equals bad filmmaking. We've seen this before. Steals from Saving Private Ryan and Titanic still couldn't save this film from being a mediocre, "Waterworld" of a film. (I actually enjoyed Waterworld).The day filmmakers stop assuming that we are as stupid as they are will be a good day for us all. The Doolittle raid didn't end like a scene out of "Platoon." The depiction of Yamamoto's fear at having awakened a "Sleeping Giant" was one of the lamest scenes in the film and felt as if it was added after the fact because and advisor said so. Zeros, made by Mitsubishi, although extremely agile, did not move like starfighters nor did pilots follow their prey so closely and flight controls didn't look like a video game joystick. Rafe and Danny would have been dead after their first encounter as the explosion of the enemy plane would have engulfed them in flames. OK, so it's the liberty of filmmaking right? So where the hell was the story? A love triangle? Do we need tawdry Aaron Spellingish soap opera crap to make history palatable and interesting? Did we need it in Schindler's List? Did we need it in Saving Private Ryan or Tora Tora Tora, (the definitive film on Pearl Harbor)? Are American audiences so stupid that they need to be spoon-fed ideas on heroism and sacrifice? I don't think so and as an audience member, I am insulted.