Tries to do too much

Rating: 7/10 (1 June 2001)

Excellent action replay of the actual attack but I thought the film was trying to be all things to all men, and that's never easy:
1. The romance angle would have made a good film by itself
2. The historical details were not as accurate as they could have been - wasn't the liner 'Queen Mary' used as a troop ship in WW2 and painted all in grey ? And the time when Rafe flew with the RAF in the Eagle Squadron was said to be 1941, but the type of combat action shown was typical of the Battle of Britain period in summer 1940. The Luftwaffe had given up daylight bombing raids over Britain by 1941 in favour of night attacks, i.e. 'The Blitz'. In any case its main activity in 1941 was supporting the German invasion of Russia.
3. The account of the Japanese planning of the attack and the American code breakers attempting to fathom out what was going on is another aspect that could well have made a good story in its own right.
But I think the way the critics have panned Kate Beckinsale's American accent is very unfair. It did not strike me as implausible, certainly no worse than the efforts of US actors to speak in English accents.