About as realistic as Attack of the Killer Tomatoes...

Rating: Null/10 (15 January 2002)

The only thing the 2 main characters didn't do in this flick is fly the Enola Gay to Hiroshima. Not only did they end up being the only 2 pilots to get off the ground on Dec. 7th, 1941, but they also became "BOMBER" pilots in the Doolittle raid, which would have been an insult to a real fighter pilot because bomber pilots were generally not the "first line" airmen fighter jocks were. Not to mention that these 2 bozo's also found time to help rescue men on ships, when they would have been too busy preparing for expected further attacks by the Japanese. If you somehow got emotional from this film, and now "understand" why Pearl Harbor is important to history, I suggest you need to read more and watch less.
American's won't ever forget Pearl Harbour because they considered the attack a sneaky way to start a war. But when America does it's own "pre-emptive Strike" to start an engagement, that's somehow completely acceptable.
World War II America considered the Japanese inferior as a people, and inferior militarily. It was good old fashioned prejudice. That was why the attack worked out as well as it did for Japan. The U.S. didn't "know it's enemy" at all, because they kept lying to themselves about their supposed invulnerability. Just as the Japanese military lied to itself about their strengths in sustaining a long-term war.
That's the one thing you won't see in this movie, nor any movie that comes out of Hollywood. I feel that this movie does more to insult the real men and women who fought and died @ Pearl Harbor. But truth doesn't sell many tickets, does it?