Pearl Harbor
Originally posted a long time ago on Paul’s Reviews Page
I’ll be rating movies on a three zone, 5-star scale. Each movie will be rated
on “Visual Appeal”, “Audio Appeal” and “Story Appeal”. Each of these three
zones can be rated up to 5 stars (or asterisks…. they load faster than
.GIFs)
Pearl Harbor
V: *****
A: *****
S: ***
Synopsis: Two boyhood friends find romance (not with each other) and opporunities for heroism in the Army Air Corps before, during and after the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, HI.
Thoughts: Pearl Harbor is a film which contains thrilling combat sequences and some gripping “Military Command” drama, but the majority of the film does not focus on this. Instead, it focuses on the romantic relationship
between Ben Affleck’s character and Kate Beckinsale’s. This plopping of a fictional romantic subplot into the context of an historic event was not as compelling for me as, for example, the execution of the same concept in James
Cameron’s Titanic. Michael Bay achieved a massive and exquisitely executed assault on the senses in the combat sequences of Pearl Harbor. Armageddon (another Bruckheimer/Bay flick) was riddled with logical and scientific flaws,
but Pearl Harbor seems to have overcome this. I’ve heard that Pearl Harbor does fall a little short in historical accuracy… but then it was never touted as a documentary, and as long as people keep that in mind it’ll be OK.