Devastatingly Powerful

Rating: Null/10 (22 January 2002)

For me, this film is hard to review. Not that I can't do it, but I am a real history idiot. I went into this film barely knowing anything about what happened at Pearl Harbor. Yeah, I know I learned about all of it in History class in High School, but I never retained anything! The movie itself is extremely powerful. The camera work, scenery, acting, special effects, and everying were phenomenal. It is apparent a great deal of money was spent on this film.
My big problem, however, is the same that I had with Titanic. They (Hollywood) takes a Dramatic tragedy, and turns it into a love story. Or, more so, they center the tragedy around this elaborate, soap opera style love story.
The first hour, however, did a have good build up. The story moved well, and we really got a feel for our characters and the emotions they inevitably faced. The 2nd hour was mind-blowing and gut wrenching. To have the over abundance of reality splashed on the screen. Now, I have never been in a war, I'm not old enough to have been alive during Pearl Harbor; but what depth was spent making that horrific scene. Too much reality to take...War is simply evil. 9/11/01 is a perfect example of this. However, we are the sleeping giant, and We will not be defeated..Sorry, rant over...
The end of the movie...to me was extremely rushed! It seemed like they wanted to (SPOILER) kill Danny off, and get Affleck and Beckinsale together. Well, if one did not predict the outcome of the film...well, it wasn't like they made it impossible to figure out.
Now, I have been impressed with Josh Hartnett since he got onto screen with Halloween: H20. He should have been nominated for something for the role he played in this film. As far as I am concerned, he totally upstaged every other actor in this film. His All-American look really fit into this film, and his acting was at his best. I am looking forward to seeing Black Hawk Down.
Overall, the film was phenomenal. Though flawed it getting the real point of the tragedy of Pearl Harbor out in the open. 3 hours and 23 minutes was a little too long to get this story told. The love triangle was predictable and complicated. Too complicated to be put in a movie with such a big plate to fill. Telling the story of Pearl Harbor, as will Titanic, should have focused more on the lives and times of the people of the day...more a big-budget docu-drama feel. Not a love story...
8.5 out of 10