Typical Michael Bay fluff

Rating: 5/10 (25 May 2001)

Despite my cold feelings toward previous Bay/Bruckheimer films, I had high hopes for Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. A cheesy, generic love story dominates the plot, with an occasional tidbit about the events leading up to the invasion. The invasion sequence, which is of course the highlight of the movie, doesn't take place until about 2 hours and several trips to the popcorn stand in. Some of the action is spectacular, but in the end, the movie as a whole just isn't that satisfying. My biggest beef, however, is Bay's treatment of the Japanese invaders. He seems to be afraid to treat them as "the bad guys". Undoubtedly this is so the film can be released worldwide without offending anyone. Further proof that Bay/Bruckheimer should stick to blowing up asteroids. At least then we won't expect anything authentic.