Pearl Harbor

Rating: 3/10 (15 June 2009)

I agree with the critics that Razzie nominated producer/director Michael Bay (Bad Boys, The Rock, Transformers) and producer Jerry Bruckheimer were great choices and could have made a great film out of a big event in history. Basically it follows friends Capt. Rafe McCawley (Razzie nominated Ben Affleck) and Capt. Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett) becoming pilots in the army during World War II, and both meeting Nurse Lt. Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale). Rafe and Evelyn hook up quite quickly, before he is transfered to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The surprise military strike by the Japanese bombing the Harbor was one of the biggest attacks in the history of WWII, with over three thousand men killed. Anyway, Evelyn and Danny hooked up when they thought Rafe was dead, so of course when he returns he is very upset, but they do have to continue fighting in a counter attack. Also starring Cuba Gooding Jr. as Petty Officer Doris 'Dorrie' Miller, Tom Sizemore as Sgt. Earl Sistern, Jon Voight as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Colm Feore as Adm. Husband E. Kimmel, Mako as Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, Alec Baldwin as Lt. Col. James Doolittle, William Lee Scott as Lt. Billy Thompson, Michael Shannon as Lt. Gooz Wood, Scott Wilson as Gen. George C. Marshall, Peter Firth as Capt. Mervyn Bennion - USS West Virginia, Greg Zola as Lt. Anthony Fusco, Ewen Bremner as Lt. Red Winkle, Jaime King as Nurse Betty Bayer, Jennifer Garner as Nurse Sandra, Dan Aykroyd as Capt. Thurman, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Cmdr. Minoru Genda and Prison Break's William Fichtner as Danny's Father. The film should have just been about the attack, and focused on just the bombing and fighting. If it wasn't for the ridiculous attempt at a romantic story almost dominating the film this would have been great, the key scene of the film and all the battle sequences are good, but at almost three hours long it isn't one you'd see more than once. It won the Oscar for Best Sound Editing, and it was nominated for Best Visual Effects, Best Song for "There You'll Be" (also nominated the Golden Globe) and Best Sound, it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Original Score for Hans Zimmer, and it was nominated the Razzies for Worst Picture, Worst Remake or Sequel, Worst Screen Couple for Affleck with either Beckinsale or Hartnett and Worst Screenplay. Adequate!