One of the year's worst

Rating: 2/10 (27 May 2001)

I went in hoping for the best. Thinking that even if the love story was hokey at least the performances and special effects would make up for it. Don't get me wrong the special effects are good, but this movie is so bad that nothing could possibly save it.
The lead actors faxed in their performances - by the end I didn't care who got the girl, I wanted them all to die. Alec Baldwin seemed to be in a parody of this movie rather than the movie itself. And Dan Aykroyd just can't be taken seriously.
The script is horrific. We are supposed to believe that Affleck's character is so romantic while his romance consists of repeatedly spouting, "You are so beautiful it hurts." When it's said just once the line is stupid. When it's said three times the character is stupid - and again I want him dead.
Cuba Gooding Jr's character might as well be named Token for that is the only purpose he serves. He does not advance the story one iota, he just adds about twenty minutes to a movie that already feels as if it is longer than the whole war. And Randall Wallace would have us believe that two Army pilots and a few machine guns chased away the Japanese. Are we stupid? They seem to think so.

The first air battle scene is directed so poorly that the audience is left asking what the hell happened. ***Minor Spoiler*** Apparently all that mattered was that Affleck's plane went down. As bad as this scene was they should have excised it and explained his downing through dialogue. Then again dialogue wasn't a strong point either.
Thinking back maybe Alec Baldwin was in the right movie. As a parody of war films this one might just work.