One of the most manipulative movies I've seen in a real long time

Rating: 3/10 (25 May 2001)

Pearl Harbor comes from that brought you Armageddon (which after further review is actually for me a lot lesser than what I once thought it was and shows what Fellini and Bergman can do to an under-developed mind) of Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer. And like that movie, they make the audience cry and automatically feel patriotism at no extra charge. That is not fair in many respects, especially during Memorial day weekend. For all those who think Spielberg and his company make manipulative films (which is arguable), you should take a gander at this piece of work.
Harbor here takes a Titanic type of approach (bad idea) as for nearly an hour and a half before a torpedo is dropped a tree sap filled love story submerges with 2 people falling in love (Ben Affleck and Kate Beckinsale who deserve better than this) and then when the pilot Affleck supposedly dies (no one feels pity as thanks to the unimaginative innovation known as the trailer we know he's fighting at the big battle), she falls in love with his best friend, played in one of the lesser roles of the year by Josh Hartnett. But of course, this is all before (and sadly also partially after) the big attack by the Japanese on the Hawaiian base.
Credit should be given where it's due and that's why this film isn't a complete failure- the battle and action sequences are excellently put together with visual effects helping a lot and chaos giving good tension to the film. BUT, the droning other story of the bad love triangle is so distracting it might just be worth waiting for video (or DVD might be appropriate) and just singling out the fine bombing. One of the lesser blockbusters ever made, and now along side it's co-companion Armageddon (but at least the Rock is still intact).
Two little notes though: 1) this is to point out a pretty obvious flaw and goof. Was it just me, or did it seem weird that several months after Beckinsale's character reveals she's pregnant that she's as thin as she was earlier in the movie? I would think that Bay could've at least taken a couple of bucks from the 140 mill budget and supplied some stuffing or something. 2) Randall Wallace who wrote the outstanding Braveheart and good Man in the Iron Mask proves that even though a blockbuster doesn't need 10 writers, one can still botch things up. Oh well, at least Shrek is still around. C-