Awful

Rating: 1/10 (3 July 2001)

The only reason I stuck it out through the entire film was my brother and I had the theater to ourselves. For three hours, we sat and watched one of the worst big budget films ever made. The story was even stupid by summer blockbuster standards (you want me to believe Ben Affleck fought the Germans, spent three months in occupied France, suddenly appears in Hawaii, fights the Japanese, bombs Tokyo. . .geez, why not have him piloting the Enola Gay at the end?). The writing was miserable. The whole thing was shot like they were looking for 15- to 30-second snippets for commercials. And Jon Voight. . . just when I thought he'd never bottomed out more than he did in Mission: Improbable, he comes up with the worst portrayal ever of a U.S. President. All those years I thought of FDR as dignified, now I'm stuck with this image of a bumbling, uneasy fool. If it's not the Gideons, it's the Japs, eh? Career advice for Bruckheimer and Bay: stick to what you know. I'll take the plot holes and ridiculous ideas in The Rock, Con-Air, Armageddon, etc., just so I can get big screen action. Leave the love stories to people who know how to tell them.