Ambitious but so-so

Rating: 5/10 (15 July 2001)

Critics have been eager to berate this film, which is understandable. Filmmakers have to be very careful when taking on a historic event of this magnitude. The reason for the success of "Titanic" was that, beyond a somewhat lowbrow script and mushy love story, great care was taken to depict in detail just what the great ship Titanic was all about. The legend of Titanic was treated with respect (if not augmented). "Pearl Harbor" lacks a great deal of historic insight and care for details.
There are two major flaws with this film. The first, and most important one, is the love story itself. Dizzy with the immense success of "Titanic" amongst the young communities, the makers saw their chance to make big money in a grand love story set in an event of legendary proportions. The story feels really added-on, though, the attack and the ensuing retaliation effort (I will get to THAT part later) suddenly strip the story of its heart and soul. Furthermore, the characters are one-dimensional - despite fine acting by all parties - and one is never really given a chance to connect to them in any way.
The second major flaw is the entire last hour of the film. It seems to be (and probably was) added to the script just to educate the world that the USA always wins, no matter what. The fact that the attack on Pearl Harbor was one of the most astounding military successes of all time is downgraded by the need to emphasize on US greatness. A suicide mission to drop a few pathetic bombs on a factory in Tokyo didn't really deter the Japanese from continuing their massive offensive in South East Asia. It is an unnecessary part, and the movie becomes terribly overlong.
What, then, makes it okay? Well, obviously the attack itself is depicted with incredible force and with a great feeling for drama and action (which Bruckheimer-Bay team is no stranger to), some of the scenes are just awesome. The aerial battles are also very well envisioned - even though no American planes took to the sky during the battle. The acting is pretty good, not bringing a lame script to life like DiCaprio and Winslet did in "Titanic", but nonetheless helps keeping it afloat. I also appreciate the fact that the Japanese were not depicted as cruel, insane killers who just attacked for fun. From their perspective, the attack on Pearl Harbor was the only sensible thing to do in order to keep their aggressive expansionist politics intact. I'm not defending it in any way - I'm just stating the facts.
So quite why the critics have to massively downgrade this movie, I don't really understand. It's very far from being the grand historic spectacle it could have been - it is merely entertaining - and it doesn't bring any new light to the actual event. Ultimately, it isn't the kind of film that I will remember with any clarity. It's just fiction. As such, it works pretty well.