Fiction, Fiction, Fiction

Rating: 3/10 (25 May 2001)

Lots of special effects but as to historical accuracy, forget it. If you want historical accuracy, get a video of "Tora, Tora, Tora!" Because I was an 11 year old living just west of Honolulu where my Dad was stationed at the time of the attack, I have vivid memories of Pearl Harbor. My father was on duty on Ford Island at the time so when I raced out to our front porch when I heard all the planes and saw bombs falling on Ford Island, I was very fearful that something would happen to my Dad. Fortunately, he only suffered a strained back from jumping from the top of a hanger just before it was hit by a bomb. But I had a front row seat. So I saw this movie more out of nostalgia but it so distorted everything it lacked any nostalgiac value. Moreover I got bored. The romance had nothing really to do with Pearl Harbor and shouldn't have been part of the movie. And I could not understand why if this was a film about Pearl Harbor, why did it have to go on and on after Pearl Harbor.
Basically the movie does not square with my recollection of what happened nor with most historical accounts.
Alec Baldwin was badly miscast as Jimmy Doolittle. He not only did not resemble Doolittle in the slightest, he did not match him in character or dialog. And he was not the only one. I was not impressed with Affleck or Cuba Gooding.
If you like special effects, maybe it is worth seeing, but don't accept what you see as what actually happened.