Not as bad as they say.

Rating: 7/10 (13 March 2009)

My take: An expensive, old-fashioned epic rather than the historical event it promises. Not nearly as bad as critics have reported.
Since its release and up until now, Bay and Bruckheimer's version of "the day which will live in infamy" remains much-maligned and heavily criticized. Sure it's melodramatic. Sure it's about as accurate as a kid playing with toy planes and boats in a bathtub. But I thought PEARL HARBOR, as an old-fashioned melodrama set on a historical event, is an entertaining romp, depending how you look at it. Despite Bay's self-importance, PEARL HARBOR is a gorgeous, visually-stunning, unashamedly clichéd and old-fashioned epic that, while a mile away from perfection, is also a mile away from what critics make it look. Where else could you possibly still hear such dialogs as "...And then I kissed him" or "I'll be back for you"? Where else could you have a love story as complicated as a love triangle about two young pilots who both fall in love with the same girl, a nurse, amidst their duties in the impending war? How many movies still give as that gung-ho action as planes who go "woosh!!" in the air, chasing and gunning each other down? PEARL HARBOR offers them all, the old-fashioned way. It gets trite and cliché in doing so, but I think that's just part of fun.
Like its obvious inspiration, James Cameron's mega-hit TITANIC, the movie is cut into two parts. The first act involves a love story, in this case a ménage à trois involving crack air pilot Rafe McCawley (Ben Affleck), hopelessly devoted to gorgeous nurse Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale), who volunteers to fight in the Eagle Squadron in England. Unfortunately his plane is shot down in the Battle of Britain is he's reported dead, much to the mourning of poor Evelyn, while Rafe's best buddy Danny (Josh Hartnett) provides her comfort. Will these two end up together? Well, after they cuddle in a parachute hangar, indeed they do, much to the anger of Rafe, who turns up alive and seeing his girl in the loving hands of his best buddy.
But they really have no time to argue when history interrupts. Japanese Zeroes swoop down in the harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941, having been devised few days earlier by Admiral Yamamoto (Mako), who's famous line of dialog ("I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant.") is only briefly mentioned here. The attack itself is immense, delivering all the explosions, disaster and trauma of the actual attack, only with neat CGI planes and sinking battleships. But just when the movie should have ended at this point, the movie throws in an additional hour devoted to the Tokyo Raid led by Lt. Col. Dolittle (Alec Baldwin, in a clichéd but acceptable role). Running nearly as long as 3 hours (or more!), PEARL HARBOR really doesn't need the extra hour, even if it just for the sake of ending the film on a happy note.
But despite the prolonged running time, PEARL HARBOR just about gave me my money's worth. It's a terrific turn on the old 1940's romance movies (as Bay describes it). It's sappy, melodramatic and a bit cliché, but entertaining as whole. The performances were adequate, with Affleck and Hartnett playing bland yet reliable cocky heroes. But Beckinsale deserves some praise who looks and acts like a classic beauty, something that would be right at home with an old-fashioned lover story. Jon Voight momentarily appears as wheelchair-bound President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but goes way over the top in a scene where he literally stands in his own two feet, despite the fact that he was affected by polio. Cuba Gooding Jr. lands an important role that's reduced simply as an extended cameo while Baldwin and Colm Feore play clichéd roles of real flesh-and-blood historical figures. But what it lacks in human and character dimension, it makes up in pure spectacle. The special effects are breathtaking and the production design is spectacular. Hans Zimmer's score is adequate to the film's dramatic and patriotic tones (with the addition of Faith Hill's theme song "There You'll Be", there are guaranteed misty eyes while the credits roll).
There are definitely better films about Pearl Harbor, including an accurate one (TORA! TORA! TORA!) and a similarly dramatic one (FROM HERE TO ETERNITY). But just because there are even better choices doesn't mean the lesser one's make bad choices. PEARL HARBOR, while never going to be on the same league as the said films, is still an enjoyable piece of "they don't make 'em like this anymore" entertainment. For accuracy, go see TORA! TORA! TORA! But for pure, old-fashioned entertainment, PEARL HARBOR just about gives me what I have paid for.
Rating: ***1/2 out of 5.