An affront to decency.

Rating: 1/10 (18 March 2002)

Utter garbage that re-enacts an act of war that left thousands of people dead, for no other reason than to have a backdrop to a pathetic, cliché-ridden romance.
A string of repellent, poorly realised characters play out a sickly three-way love story that actually takes up more of the running time than the attack or its repercussions. To have the assault on Pearl Harbor cheapened by placing it against a tale of such stunning banality is unbelievable. Until you see the names of the director and producer.
This is big budget, over-produced Hollywood rubbish, every shot filtered to excess and meticulously manufactured so as to render the actors redundant. When the characters are sad, they stand mournfully in the rain. When they're confused, they stand beside a storm-tossed shoreline. The film is chock-full of emotional cheap shots, and we viewers are treated with almost as little respect as the event itself.
The talent on show here is negligible, both in front and behind the camera. The effects and stunts during the attack itself are spectacular, but by this time you're probably numbed by the whole sorry mess, and indifferent to the plight of the square-jawed, potato-faced heroes and their insipid love interest. This is a film that's nothing short of an affront to decency on a truly epic scale.