A few shining moments, but overall...

Rating: 1/10 (28 May 2001)

My comments mention a few of the story's events, and I don't know if they would be considered "slight spoilers" or not, bu I didn't want to take any chances. :)
Do not see this movie unless you like seeing a true event (like Titanic) turned into something absolutely ridiculous. About an hour into the movie, I was holding back with everything I had in me not to scream out "Please freakin bomb us already!!!" The only other time I saw a movie where the first part of it was more meaningless was "From Dusk Til Dawn"...Was this movie intended to be about the events leading up to Pearl Harbor with a love story as a side thought, or was it about a love story with the events of Pearl Harbor as a side thought? If the latter, then why even use the events of Pearl Harbor at all...just make up another war fictional war story.
Now, maybe I went into a movie with the wrong expectations...(guess you gotta do more research on these things) but, if you're going to give me a load of made up BS, please at least get that right. Did anyone else notice that this guy (Rafe) couldn't even read an eyechart, but he can read and write long love letters from his girlfriend? Was this just a slight blunder? Even if he could decipher them, did it take him like 3 hours? (just wondering, it didn't seem like he had any problem)...Also, one obvious giveaway that producers cared more about the box office dollars than getting events right, was casting Cuba Gooding Jr. for the part he played. Nothing against Cuba, but did they really need such a big name for such a non-part? I wonder how much they had to shell out to get 10 minutes of his time...
Well folks, I tend to rant a bit when I'm really disappointed in a movie that was hyped up to be such a blockbuster. Perhaps it will make the money, which is the obvious intent, but it was a real disappointment. One last thing...If any of you reading this are in school and plan to write a term paper on the events of Pearl Harbor, you're not going to get any help watching this one. Go find some Cliff's Notes somewhere. :) Thanks for allowing me to express my opinion.

"Super" Dave Pittsburgh, PA, USA