An excellent retelling of the event that changed America!

Rating: 10/10 (29 July 2005)

This movie is an outstanding effort to take a tragic life-changing event and portray it in a realistic and heart-pounding manner. The film is also backed by a very supportive and entertaining storyline, which includes Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, and Kate Beckinsale as the cast for a love triangle that makes the movie so it doesn't bore the audience.
First of all, if all the entertainment business wanted to do with this movie was portray the attack on Pearl Harbor and only the attack on Pearl Harbor, the movie would only be approximately fifteen to twenty minutes in length, so there has to be some sort of storyline to back it up. Second of all, if all they wanted was an informative film that educates people about what happened sixty-four years ago on December 7, 1941, then they would be wasting their time with a pointless remake, as there already is a boring and disappointing movie out there like that entitled Tora! Tora! Tora! which was released in the year of 1971. No, they wanted something better. They wanted something that would attract a movie audience, not something that would attract a History Channel audience. In my opinion, this was accomplished successfully and wholesomely.
Ben Affleck plays Captain Rafe McCawley whose only dream is to be a pilot. When a young woman named Evelyn Johnson (Beckinsale) deliberately passes him when she tests his sight even though he wasn't deserving of the deed, he immediately falls in love with her and the two become an item with no time wasted. However, a tragic event leads to emotions composed of envy and revenge. When December 7th comes upon them, people find that they must fight for their lives and their only chance of survival is through strength and hope.
This is a wonderful and brilliant film that is supported by an outstanding cast, an excellent storyline, and a tragic ending that is guaranteed to leave you in tears.
A well deserved 10/10!