It May Be Long, but at Least It's Dull

Rating: 6/10 (28 November 2001)

About one third of the way through this mess, my daughter left her friends and came to me for some money to go to the concession stand. I asked her if they were selling pillows there. This is one of the longest movies I have ever sat through (at least that's what my back tells me). It has some of the worst writing I have ever heard. The set-up and the romantic intrigues are predictable and uninteresting. There is absolutely no suspense. The whole plot is contrived. Oh, yes, there is an endless attack by the Japanese, but by the time it happened, my mind was wandering. As far as those tragic lovers, I thought I was watching a bunch of eighth grade girls and boys ticked off because she said he said she said, whatever!! Then, of course, we have Jimmy Doolittle, going on his raid to make up for what those guys did to us. What a slap in the face to the real event. How can a director with 135 million dollars make the attack on Pearl Harbor dull. Yes, it probably looked like that. Those bombers and fighters moving clandestinely in on the island--destroying the fleet with no conscience. What about a script? What about the building of some sort of momentum? How about focusing on the realistic politics of the time and seeing the world from both sides. I was so disappointed in this film. People wonder why it's so expensive to go to the movies these days. It's because the studios are footing the bill for this kind of bilge!