It could've been better.....

Rating: Null/10 (7 May 2003)

I've watched this movie several times. For one, I feel that the love story portion of it could've been toned down or left out. The scene at the radar station was not totally correct (the actual radar station was actually a radar van). The guy at Ford Island who received the report from the radar van responded by saying "Don't worry about it", not the way it was shown in this movie. What happened to the USS Nevada?---it wasn't shown at all (the Nevada actually got underway but ended up beaching itself rather that be sunk and block the harbor entrance). Admiral Yamamoto was show on board the carrier "Akagi" in this movie, when in reality he was back on his flagship in Japanese home waters listening to reports coming in. Mitsuo Fuchida, who had the rank of Commander was referred to in the movie as "Colonel" (later in the attack sequence). Only 2 battleships were shown being attacked, but there were more than that present at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. A flight of Navy aircraft, as well as some Army Air Corps B-17s were coming in to land. Both groups of aircraft were shot at by trigger happy gunners. But this was not shown in the movie, either. During the Doolittle Raid, the B-25s split up--they all didn't attack the same target. The special effects were spectacular, but the overall historical accuracy could've been much better. Overall, I'd say "Tora, Tora, Tora" was a more historically accurate movie.