Visually impressive, but otherwise crap

Rating: 4/10 (22 January 2003)

The good points of Pearl Harbour are fairly easy to summarise: 1) Damned impressive-looking and -sounding show. 2) Great recreation of Pearl Harbour itself.
However, the counter-arguments are a little more numerous. 1) The portrayal of the Japanese. They're cardboard cutout 'baddies'! I mean, we should be allowed to understand and empathise with the Japanese point of view (that America was heading slowly and inevitably for war under pressure from Western Europe, and that if they didn't strike first, America's Pacific Fleet would be a serious threat when the time came), but this was just pathetic.
2) The portrayal of the whole of Western Europe. For 2 years worth of fighting, we get a few stereotypes thrown in and an odd look from Affleck. And the 'turning point of WW2'? A small bombing raid on Tokyo, included in the film only because the filmmakers thought audiences so shallow that they couldn't cope with a film that ended at its tragic climax, Pearl Harbour.
3) The sickeningly predictable 'love story.' There wasn't anything in this that couldn't be seen coming several hours ago. The plane hits the sea - of course he's alive, it's only 30 minutes into the film! The two best friends go off to war - of course, one of them's going to die, so our hero can get back together with the stock love interest and live happily ever after. Yawn.