Ending, subject make this movie awful....

Rating: 2/10 (27 May 2001)

I must admit that upon leaving the theatre I had what you might call an ok feeling about this movie. Like so many people I ran the gammot of emotions with this movie; very excited about its release and then very skeptical after the awful reviews it received even before opening night. Going on Saturday my expectations were low and by that time I do not think it was going to take much for those expectations to be if not passed then at least met. Upon further reflection, however, I realized how good this movie could have been and how much of a disgrace it ended up being. The only reason to see this movie on the big screen is the 40 minute battle scene that actually depicts the attack on Pearl Harbor(remember the movie is over 3 hrs long) The effects are breathtaking and the depiction of this horror is actually very well done. Unfortunately that is about all that is done well. Now, leaving the film what disturbed me the most was the end. I will not give anything away but EVERYTHING after the attack on Pearl Harbor is tedious, predictable, and sometimes down right laughable. Alec Baldwin, who supposedly steals the movie according to some critcs, is amazingly bad for such a small role. His lines are all cliched to the max and his mannerism's'are prototypical old-school army man. Affleck is ok and gets the most out of a bad script, delivering some not so funny lines in a funny way and not so poignant lines with surprising feeling. Voight as FDR is great and Akroyd, though not in it much, is a pleasure to watch. Besides that the rest of the acting is extremely poor. Hartnett gives an amazingly un-emotional performance and even though the script gave few chances for any character development Hartnett, for a supposedly budding star and heart-throb, is overshadowed by anyone on screen with him. Blanchet, as the love torn nurse, is only watchable during the battle scene when she does a good job of mixing the horror of the moment with the need to stay calm to help injured service men. Though gorgeous onscreen, and she has the look of an old style movie star in this film, Blanchet does not convince the audience of any true emotion during the film. FYI Michael Bay, if you have casted an actress who cannot cry when asked to, use age old methods to draw out the tears. Too many times, in moments when Blanchets character should be distraught, she remains dry eyed, while pretending to sob.
As I said, at first the major problem I had with this flick was the ending, which is about as bad an endig as you can get, and I do mean the entire hour of film after the attack. After having a day to think about it however, I realized what a disgrace this movie was and how Bay and Bruck used a horrible moment in American history to make an overly-hyped, big booming action flick that will make money. Granted nothing may ever reach the accuracy of Saving Private Ryan or even Platoon, yet this movie really makes no attempt to relate the seriousness of the moment. This was Armageddon and The Rock, with the same effects, the same "one or two men can take on an army" concept, and an emphasis on horribly cliched moments and phrases. This movie could have been a wondeful depiction of that terrible day in 1941, could have brought the horrors of war, and espacially naval and air combat, home, and could have still done most of this while including a less time consuming, non-sensical love triangle. You may say, "why do we need the horrors of war brought home once again, whats the matter with a more light-hearted movie." You may have a point, but when dealing with REAL events it seems to me that the people who died must be honored, and honoring them means getting what ACTUALLY happened right. The fact that Bay and Bruck made little attempt to get all the details right is horrible. At least Titanic, another movie I am not in love with, made a good attempt to get history right and in the end focused the movie away from the Leo, Kate love fest and on he carnage that ensued. This movie fails not only as a product, that is a run of the mill movie, but also fails horribly as a cinematic repesentation of history. Veterans, who were honored, and righfully so, by the power of Ryan should be insulted by the almost insignificant role there horrible day plays in this film. Only 40 minutes devoted to Pearl Harbor in a movie named Pearl Harbor(that runs 3 hours)? An almost anxious jump away from the action back to the love-story? This not only fails as a movie, at least a $150 million movie, but also insults what many of our grandfathers and even grandmothers went through. For that, and that alone, stay away from this movie.