Compared to Dark Blue World, Pearl Harbor loses on all fronts

Rating: 1/10 (19 June 2002)

I've seen Pearl Harbor and Dark Blue World, and I have to say while the story of both films is similar, the quality isn't.
Pearl Harbor must be one of the worst war films ever. It could have slipped through as cheap, forgettable action movie if it concentrated on the action scenes, like the 40 minutes of the attack on Pearl Harbor, but unfortunately, it doesn't.
This film has one of the biggest budgets in the history of cinema, and all we get are a lousy 40 minutes of action scenes, which are ridden by historical errors any person who has the slightest interest in history can't possibly ignore? Instead, Pearl Harbor tries to tell us the love story of a girl and two men, and it tells it over two tedious hours long.
But a love story needs more than a girl and two boys. It needs a believable plot, good actors, and a reasonable background. Which means, everything Pearl Harbor lacks.
I won't even go into detail about the diseases that many Hollywood productions plague, Pearl Harbor being no exception, like blind patriotism, horrible dialogues, and historical falsification.
On the other hand, mankind has films like Dark Blue World, which has great albeit unknown actors, interesting characters, great flight scenes which put Pearl Harbor to shame, a captivating love story, and many great characteristics more although the film had a fraction of the budget of Pearl Harbor. Dark Blue World surpasses Pearl Harbor just in every aspect, whether it's actors, story, flight scenes or historical correctness.
If you want a really good war movie which leave you with the impression that you just have watched a good film, go and watch films like Dark Blue World or Das Boot.
If you want to see a war movie and the feeling that you are wasting time and money on it, go and watch Pearl Harbor.
Rating: 1/10