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Pearl Harbor Customer Reviews (115 - 117 of 144 Reviews)

Half Right...Half Very Wrong!
If you are interested in watching two films in one this is the film for you. Hollywood has butchered a significant moment in history and what could have been a powerful film.

Somehow the writers of this movie must have been trying to convince us of the errors of war without letting the horror of the bombings in Pearl Harbor speak for itself. Instead they threw in a horribly sappy romance movie in the midst of such tragedy. While I have no doubt that many of the people involved in the real Pearl Harbor were in love and beautiful, I have my doubts on whether or not "love" was the first thing on their minds during the attack. I also have my doubts that one woman could fall in love with two men who are both drop dead gorgeous and extrodinarily brave at the same time. Reality proves time and again the impossibility of this sappy romantic notion. This portion of the film should have been written out and left for the "Lifetime" network to promote!

Now for the good part.....this film will have you on your seatbones during the battle scenes. It will rile your patriotism and inspire you to learn more about the actual event in history. The special effects are decent although some of the harbor scenes are obviously fake. But the horror of thousands of sleeping men being awakened to war is tragic. To even begin to fathom being buried in a sinking ship is horrendous. I wish the movie would have pulled a bit more at our heartstrings by focusing on true stories of what these brave men endured to survive such an event rather than just the magnitude of the bombings. This is where movies like "Saving Private Ryan" and "Black Hawk Down" reign supreme and this one fails.

I recommend this movie purely for its ability to inspire you to learn more about the actual attack. Because the truth is in the men who survived this event not in this film. Worth noting of course is how our "intelligence" failed to protect Pearl Harbor. Maybe we need to construct a new word for that which "protects" us!

This film WILL live in infamy
If the film makers were to title their travesty more accuratly it would be called, "Ben Afleck has nearly predictable girlfriend problems for like 2/3's of the movie and uh, sorta unrealisticly participates in the nation changing events at Pearl Harbor." I guess that title was too long for them, but never the less, this is certianly not an adiquate depiction of Pearl Harbor. Where this movie fails, is in its own ignorance of the title it shamefully claims. Absolutly no reason was given for the attack itself, or why we faild to prevent it. More so, the Japanese are depected as comming up with their plan for attack not only sponaineously, but OUTSIDE while their kids fly kites!! Think about the absurdity of this: The Japanese are one of only two military forces ever to attack our country since its formation (the revolutinary war dosnt count)with the other attack taking place on 9/11. This was a briliant military achievment that took countless hours of planning. And please,...I highly doubt that the war lords of Japan would hold top secret meetings outside in the open. Furthure more they certianly would never have taken their kids.
Despite all this the depiction of the attack itself was fairly well done, with spectacular CG effects that truly place the audience into the middle of the chaos. This is especialy evident in the hospital scenes both during and after the initial attack; they expertly convey a sense of hoplessness and confusion. However I hardley believed that Ben Afleck could piolet an aircraft. All in all, this is a big bugeted effort that displayes an ausome 30 minute invasion sequence that must convey what really happened, and a furthure two and a half hours of some kind Romance that deserves no place in any serious war film.

Another big budget Hollywood disaster
In my opinion, Pearl Harbor was a poor film. The movie is way too long and can't seem to decide whether it wants to be a love story or a war movie. On both counts, it fails. The dialogue is corny and Ben Affleck is so annoying with his country accent. The film just doesn't seem to have much connectedness. It feels more like a bunch of disjointed subplots. One moment its about the relationship between Affleck, Beckinsale and the other guy, the next moment its about Cuba Gooding Jr., next moment it focuses on the president and the pressing matters that he must deal with. Since there is no virtually no interaction between these separate character stories, shifting the focus and point of view between them is just a bad idea. Although the love triangle is the backbone of the movie, it fails to hold up the rest of the film and is simply cliched and uninteresting. The attack on Pearl Harbor itself had good special effects and was done well enough, but in this day and age with the sinking ship in Titanic and the graphic battle scenes of Saving Private Ryan, its not all that spectacular. When it gets right down to it, Pearl Harbor does not reflect any sort of good storytelling or creativity. It is a film that simply tries to cash in on the WWII fad while throwing in a formulaic love story, obligatory political correctness and big budget special effects. It will defiitely make tons of money initially but it will not have any lasting effect and will not be remembered as a great film.

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