rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 2001
Directed by Michael Bay; produced by Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer; written by Randall Wallace
Starring Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jon Voight, Alec Baldwin, Tom Sizemore, Ewen Bremner, Jaime King, Jennifer Garner, Dan Aykroyd
'Pearl Harbor' takes the 'Titanic' approach. A well known tragic event is told with the help of a love story. The problem here is that the film has its focus on the wrong things. Instead of making one of the most important things in US history the main issue, it deals mostly with the love story that involves the three main characters. Yes, the human tragedy comes from two men who love the same woman, not the thousands of people who died on December 7th, 1941. The love story in 'Titanic' was a little too much for some, but it had a reason. It was able to show the differences between classes on the big ship, it gave us insight on different kind of lives. Here the love story is only distracting, and it isn't even very good.
Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett are both pilots. They are also best friends. Affleck is in love with Kate Beckinsale, and she with him. Affleck dies in England. Hartnett falls in love with Beckinsale, and she with him. Then, through some kind of miracle Affleck is not dead after all. The fact that Hartnett and Beckinsale are an issue now is a very sad thing for the three. Of course this is much more important than a lot of people dying. We follow some other characters. Alec Baldwin is an important patriot, Cube Gooding Jr. is a cook and an important patriot, Tom Sizemore is an important patriot, Jon Voight is President Roosevelt and an important patriot.
We also follow the Japanese planning of the Pearl Harbor attack. This is probably the most ridiculous part in the film. Not the fact that the film shows us Japanese planning, but the fact that it is done in a way it almost seems to justify the attack. Japan started the war in Asia anyway. So whether the Japanese empire thought it was necessary or even inevitable doesn't really matter. May be the makers were afraid it would not do very well on the box office in Japan and other Asian countries, who knows.
Are there reasons to see 'Pearl Harbor'? Yes. Although the attack on Pearl Harbor takes only about twenty minutes of the three hours of film, it is a reason to see this anyway. It feels more like popcorn entertainment, with all its big explosions, than like a recording of a historic fact. However, it is probably the most accurate thing we get to see here. It looks very good and is admittedly very exciting. If the whole film was like this part we might have had something here. Hans Zimmer's score is another good aspect. Especially during the war sequences it adds something. Too bad it gets a little annoying when it is used to make love scenes more sweet.
The last thing I want to mention are the performances. Affleck is too good looking for a film like this, I guess. He is nice in action thrillers or Kevin Smith films, but here he gets annoying. May be his part in the corny dialogue makes me think that. Hartnett is a little better, but he should have looked how he looked in 'Black Hawk Down'. Beckinsale is beautiful and does the best she can, but she as well plays a big part in the corny dialogue. Voight gives the only worthy performance here, and Baldwin, Sizemore and Gooding Jr. try their best with the little time on screen. Maybe the film should have chosen these characters to tell the human tragedy that Pearl Harbor is. This could have been so much better.