A dull movie with one shocking, tragic and incredible scene you have to see.

Rating: 3/10 (3 February 2002)

The big problem isn't that it's a love story. The problem is it's a DULL love story. Despite the length of the running time spent on the love triangle, all three of the lead characters are handled far too sympathetically. Nobody is depicted as being particularly at fault. Everybody's nice. Where's the real conflict between these people? Affleck comes back from the dead to discover his best friend has been sleeping with his girlfriend. He should be incredibly angry at this. Instead, he just has a bit of a sulk and eventually has a little scuffle, after which they're the best of friends again. Hmm.
The net result is that you're supposed to care about these folks, but they're so colorless that you literally couldn't care less, not even at the climax. Ultimately the historical characters, like FDR and Doolittle, are far more interesting and better played, and deserved more screen time.
The Japanese are handled sympathetically, but perhaps to too great a degree, coming across as simplistic, troubled stooges instead of the dedicated, enthusiastic warriors they seem to have been. Look at Tora, Tora, Tora's depiction of the Imperial Japanese Navy, for instance. There's a big difference.
And yet for all this, the attack, when it comes, is utterly shocking. The human suffering and awful destruction is presented with real skill and sympathy. It's the one emotionally involving part of the entire film, but it's lost in a sea of filler material. This is a vapid movie, and the horror and impact of this scene shows that up. The attack has nothing in common with the rest of the movie, and frankly looks like something spliced in from a much better film.
To cap it all, the whole thing is disjointed. It doesn't feel like a coherent story at all, just a series of events that abruptly stops at the end credits.
Positive points - the flying scenes are very good, the special effects are fantastic, the acting is in general good and in places excellent. But this still isn't a good film. If only the verve, skill and - crucially - the emotional punch that was applied to the attack sequence had been spread across the entire film, this'd be a sure fire classic. Instead, it's just a dull romance with a stunning sequence jammed in the middle.