I preferred it to Saving Private Ryan!

Rating: Null/10 (23 February 2002)

I wanted to see this for ages when I read about it in an aviation magazine, and when I saw it on the big screen I wasn't disappointed!
OK, forgiving the storyline, which I knew was gonna be a bit contrived anyway, this is a fair bit of action-heroics that takes your breath away in places. We all know that CGI has come a long way, so it came as no surprise to me when I saw ships being blown apart, planes being shot down and people being tossed around like ragdolls by huge explosions. I know how it's done - I saw the 'Making of' docs!
There were a few bits that grated me, but they were mainly historical innacuracies like the colour of the Japanese Zeros (they should have been light-grey, not GREEN!!!!), the Eagle Squadron should have had Hurricanes as opposed to Spitfires (in addition to a few more American pilots!), etc... There weren't that many that I knew of, anyway, but they could have got some of it 'spot on' for the 'nit-pickers' amongst us.
Pearl Harbor isn't bad, but it doesn't come close to depicting the day's events that 'Tora! Tora! Tora!'. But then it's not meant to - it's meant to tell an action/love story in which the main characters are swept up in the events of the day and how it affects them and their lives. It's not meant to be a big anti-war statement, people!! We've got far too many of those in the form of 'Saving Private Ryan' or 'The Thin Red Line' where we see young men becoming shellshocked and so on. 'Pearl Harbor' cuts the mustard as pure entertainment - NUFF SAID!