TAGLINE: It was the end of innocence, and the dawn of a nation's greatest glory.
About three and a half years ago, a beautiful, sweeping historic epic stirred up the world and went on to become the highest grossing film of all time; this movie was Titanic. And since it�s release, Hollywood has been trying to match this film�s success. Pearl Harbor is the film that was spouted as the next Titanic, and in a way it is, minus the beauty, accuracy, and heart.
The film opens in 1920s Tennessee as we see two childhood friends pretending to be soldiers on a farm, one of the boys the son of a crop duster. Soon, the boys get into the crop dusting plane and accidentally start to fly off. When they get out, the younger boy, Danny, has a run in with his father, who seems a bit abusive at first, but after an attack by the older boy Rafe and some cheesy dialogue, we are unsure. Flash forward twenty years, and we start to see a hokey romance develop between Rafe and a navy nurse Evelyn as he nearly fails his physical, but is passed out of pity. Soon, after the two are reunited, Rafe volunteers to go from New York to London (by train apparently), to help them on the war. He is eventually shot down, believed dead, leaving his still friend Danny to tell Evelyn the bad news. Three months later, Danny and Evelyn, after their first encounter in that time, have a brief affair and by the power of Hollywood, fall in love just in time for Rafe to return, alive and well, too late. Rafe and Danny have a barroom brawl over the love of Evelyn, then become best buds again just in time for them to be involved in the Pearl Harbor battle the next morning, about and hour and a half into the movie. From there, they train, counterattack the Japanese, someone dies, and all is well.
The main problem with this movie, and there are a few, is the story. Where Titanic managed to set a touching love story amidst the backdrop of the tragedy, and this film is obviously inspired by it, Pearl Harbor seems to be simply taking a tragic situation and exploiting it. The love story here is not as interesting or believable, and the love triangle itself never really develops. The story would have been better served if it were told more through the views of the supporting, and much more entertaining, characters. Unfortunately, these characters, some of which actually did exist, don�t get much screen time.
The next big problem with the movie is the battle between good and evil that is overdone. Rafe and Danny are pinpointed as the only heroic figures in the film, Evelyn as the only logical nurse. And the Japanese are shown as cruel, heartless beings, without accuracy. This becomes all too melodramatic to be taken seriously.
I won�t even go into detail about the style-less direction that goes into this film. Actually, Michael Bay does try to inject some style here, but it just seems choppy and pointless. At one point after the battle, for no apparent reason, the cinematography goes from clear, to hazy, to grainy, to blurry. It is supposed to symbolize something, but it is just distracting. And sad to say, for a movie built up on special effects, they are not that impressive, and a bit redundant.
However, there is one redeeming quality to this film: the cast. Though I can�t say their performances are spectacular, they do their hardest with the hollow characters they are given. I�m not a huge Ben Affleck fan, but he tries. Kate Beckinsale has done better, but she breathes some life into her nurse Evelyn. And Josh Hartnett has proves he has a bright acting career ahead of him. However, the supporting cast is what I want to touch upon. Cuba Gooding Jr. with the brief, dispersed fifteen minutes of screen time he is given, tugs at the heartstrings of his real life character Dori Miller, a cook not given the chance to fire a gun because he is black only to become a great hero. Jon Voight, with an even smaller role as President Roosevelt and Dan Aykroyd in a role smaller than that as an intelligence officer, are quite impressive and believable. Still, as odd as it sounds, I would like to promote the even smaller roles. Two actors that stuck out in my mind throughout the movie were William Lee Scott (who was previously in Jerry Bruckheimer�s more entertaining action blockbuster Gone In 60 Seconds) as another young soldier and James King (the former model) as another nurse. They have very minor roles, but of all the people in the film, they got the most out of their characters and I am waiting for the day they will get bigger and better roles and a large, much deserved fan base. If anything I can say in defense for this movie, it is that even though this is a shameless Titanic rip-off, it gives a chance for all of the talented, young, unknown actors a chance to get noticed and get that one bad film out of their system.
*NOTE* I do want to apologize if I offended anyone with this review. I don't have anything against this film personally, but the idea that Hollywood would make something like this. It is a bad movie, but it is made even worse by the fact that Hollywood is so far gone at a lack of imagination that it chooses to exploit historic tragedies and reuse already existing, previously successful ideas.
