The biggest blockbuster of the season weighs in as the summer movie season begins.

Rating: 7/10 (23 May 2001)

By Dean Kish
The biggest blockbuster of the season weighs in as the summer movie season officially begins. Like the $139 million dollar juggernaut that it is, Pearl Harbor roars across the screen as Ben Affleck and Josh Harnett star as best friend aviators. Rafe (Affleck) has to leave his best friend behind when he joins the highly-respected `Eagle Squadron' out of Britain. The Eagles battle the Nazis as America still refuses to enter World War II. Rafe's beloved Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale) is a nurse and is just getting to know her fly-boy when he takes the assignment in Britain. Rafe asks Danny to look after Evelyn if anything should happen to him overseas. Danny is a man of his word. Tragedy brings down one of the three and the pain it causes brings their lives face to face with the horror that is the Japanese sneak attack of Pearl Harbor. That lone event changed the face of the world and America forever. Who will live? Who will die? And strategically, how will America overcome this disaster? There are so many ways to look at this film, that it's hard to narrow it down into one review. I basically see the film as three smaller films brought together as a huge 3-plus hour blockbuster juggernaut. The first film focuses on the love story of the three leads. The second is the actual events that transpire before and during the attack of Pearl Harbor and the third is the aftermath. Each of these sections of this huge film could have been its own actual film. Director Michael Bay really challenges himself a lot in the first hour of this film. The love story, subtle lighting and humor are really like nothing he has accomplished before. These scenes were great in that they show Bay is evolving as a director. I did find however find that the actual `love-story' plot was quite contrived and was an almost typical wartime drama scenario. Bay's CGI effects and rip-roaring attacks, throughout the second hour are amazing and very intense. These scenes are a marvel to witness. But the film seems to drag quite a bit as the attack dies down. The whole third hour seems like a sequel. Why didn't screenwriter Randall Wallace (Braveheart) find a way to conclude the lead characters' story in the events of Pearl Harbor? Wallace's script had too much meat and did tend to flip-flop to a lot of different people not around Pearl Harbor. The script should have summed up the love-story in the first 20 minutes, trimmed down some of the flip-flops and narrowed the focus of the film to the actual events of Pearl Harbor. If this would have occurred the film wouldn't have been so long.
The lead actors are dashing, daring, beautiful and wonderful to watch. Affleck is good as the steel-hearted hero who faces a moral dilemma. Harnett is believable as the guy who falls for his best friend's girl. But of the three, Beckinsale seemed to release the most range as she seemed to be the one tortured the most. I really liked her during the hospital sequences when the siege was happening. These blurred moments reflect the stress both within Beckinsale and in the events occurring. I really liked this technique. My overall favorite performance wasn't even by one of the main leads. Jon Voight's performance as Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Voight's grasping of the classic historical figure was incredible and it's amazing how he even resembles America's greatest president. I loved this performance and I do hope there is an Oscar nod here. Pearl Harbor's historical lay-out and formula kind of reminded me of was how the mini-series `The Winds of War' was a set-up for `War & Remembrance' except they were two long and massive mini-series. Pearl Harbor may have included too much stuff in its story. The whole first hour could have been vastly trimmed to bring the actual event closer to the front of the film. `The Winds of War' and its sequel were the most ambitious complete World War II dramas ever conceived. Pearl Harbor may have been too ambitious. This American interpretation of the Japanese invasion is very respectful to the Japanese and doesn't show them as tyrants. I liked that the Japanese were perceived as doing a strategic thing and that they knew that they were awakening a sleeping giant. I am not sure if this is actually the correct portrayal of Japan during this time period but it definitely won't harm anybody today. Pearl Harbor is the kind of film that is meaty enough to spend those inflated theatre ticket prices on. It has something for everyone. (4 of 5) So Says the Soothsayer.