What a flop this was!!

Rating: 2/10 (26 May 2001)

Afetr making 3 great movies like The Rock, Armageddon, and Gone in 60 Seconds, you would think that Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay could do no wrong with this concept. After all, everyone knows the story of the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, so the groundwork was already there for the movie. All that needed to be done was throw in some great special effects, a halfway decent script, and it would be a great movie right out of the gates....right? Alas, Hollywood has proved me wrong with this loser of a movie. First of all, the movie was WAYYYY too long. At just over three hours long, I was wishing for the movie to end so I could beat the traffic out of the parking lot. The first hour or so of the movie nearly put me to sleep with all the talk and no action. Don't get me wrong, I like setting the stage, but in a movie about the Pearl Harbor invasion, less talk and more bombs and action is expected. Also, the way the movie was hyped up, its supposed to be an action movie with a love story in the background. But after watching it, its definitely a love story first, with some pesky little japanese invasion storyline thrown in as if it were an afterthought. Even the love story itself is very muddled. It involves a loved one being killed, forgotten, betrayed, brought back from the dead, betrayed again, seeking revenge, finding a resolution, another death, more betrayal, and a happy ending?!?! I think I lost track there. Oh, I forgot the action. The action itself was impressive, but nothing we haven't seen before with the likes of Gladiator and Saving Private Ryan. But the action was very sporadic throughout the film (keeping in mind that there was absolutely no action through the first hour and a half of the movie, which leaves about an hour and a half for hardcore action which they decided to divide up in chunks anyways...trust me, its as bad as it sounds!). The lulls in between in the action sequences truly ruin the only possible bright spots in this film. And let's not even get into the actors. Ben Affleck was out of the movie for a good chunk of it, Cuba Gooding Jr. had a completely USELESS role and was in the movie for maybe about 10 minutes combined!!!!!! Jon Voight(you know, Angelina Jolie's dad) actually gives a good performance as president FDR....for about the 15 minutes he's in the film. Dan Ankroyd had a role about as useless as Cuba's. That leaves the brunt of the film being carried by some girl and some guy I've never heard of. I could go on and on about this loser of a movie, but my connection would time out. Bottom Line: don't see this, go see Shrek!