All over the place

Rating: 5/10 (16 April 2011)

Pearl Harbor is way too long, way too all over the place and it takes itself way too seriously.
With its blatant ignoring of historical facts, Pearl Harbor is disrespectful towards victims of the tragedy. But it's hardly the only movie of the sorts (Titanic, I am looking at you). It's also hardly the only one that tries to mix overly sentimental romance story with real life historical events. So, what went wrong here? First of all, it's too long, and it focuses on way too many things, which in turn makes the film lose its point. The bombing of Pearl Harbor is hardly the central theme of the film, and it's a huge mistake. Because of the need to end the movie with victorious note for the US, the film continues long after the Pearl Harbor attack, telling us, completely unnecessary and out of the place, another story, of the Doolittle Raid. The film completely loses its pace and coherence. Cheesy dialogues and uninspiring love triangle don't help, nor does the fact the plot is completely predictable 20 minutes into the film.
The cast does its best with the lines given, but the acting is wooden and forced. Supporting characters prove to be more interesting than the main trio. Kate Beckinsale's Evelyn seems bland and without any personality. Ben Affleck's Rafe is cocky and egoistic, not at all a noble hero he's supposed to be. Josh Hartnett seems completely confused as Danny and you can just feel he doesn't want to be there. In a way, it works for his character, and he almost makes us believe he's this shy farm boy who doesn't know how to ask a girl out on a date. In a way, he proves to be one of the few things that draw people - teenage, female people - to this film.
Is it the worst movie in history? Hardly. It is watchable, once you gave up on the historical facts or clever writing. At the end of the day, it proves itself to be a breathtaking romantic film for those who are too young to know history, or real romance.