Why the flaws?

Rating: 5/10 (29 May 2001)

Why spend so much money, effort and brilliance on fantastic special effects...and then get them so wrong? Pearl Harbor gives the world its best chance to feel what Sunday, Dec. 7 was like. The technology exists to help us witness the events "better" than real-time (multiple settings, point-of-views, etc.). So why blow it with sloppy/cheezy mistakes? To wow the kids of the Star Wars generation? Aircraft did NOT race through the alleys. Fighters didn't fill the skies like locusts. Planes don't jitter-bug back and forth like Formula 1 racers.
The romance is filled with cliches (the revolving door good bye...haven't we seen that once or twice), but who was this girl and why did we care about her? Nurses weren't sluts.
The main characters though were really not affected by the events of Dec. 7. Moreso by the induction physical, the Battle of Britain and a trumped-up gunfight in China. In fact, we don't "know" any of the victims of the bombing.
The battleship scenes were amazing though, and, I suppose, worth the ticket.