REVIEWS-Pearl Harbor

"...it’s not one of the worst films ever."

PEARL HARBOR
Rated PG-13

Director: Michael Bay
Screenwriter: Randall Wallace
Cast: Ben Affleck (Rafe McCawley), Josh Hartnett (Danny Walker), Kate Beckinsale (Evelyn Stewart), Dan Aykroyd (Capt. Thurman), Alec Baldwin (Lt. Colonel Jimmy Doolittle)
Running Time: 183 minutes
Released: June 16, 2001

ALTERNATE REALITY Review by Lawrence Evans
HIS RATING: RECOMMENDED (*** stars)

Touchstone Pictures/Bruckheimer Films present Pearl Harbor starring Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Sizemore, Alec Baldwin and Jon Voight. Written by Randall Wallace and directed by Michael Bay. Pearl Harbor is not a one star or a one and a half-star film; it is at best a two or three star film. Yes, the romance is sappy (as was the romance in the oft compared Titanic) but it should bring in female audiences.

The best part of the film is the attack itself and the events leading up to that fateful morning with the Doolittle raid coming in a close second. The filmmakers try to frame Harbor by marking it all up to kids wanting to fly. The open showing us the two male leads as kids first sitting in a homemade plane then accidentally taking a real plane up leads up to the ending involving the one survivor taking the son of the dead pilot up for a ride.

None of the actors involved give bad performances but Randall Wallace doesn’t help much by giving them dialogue that falls from their mouths like anchors. Michael Bay seems to be toning himself down with this film; however, the massive cutting style used in Armageddon is for the most part missing. You can tell here that his strength is with the camera not the actors and until he learns to handle both he will always be hammered by critics.

There are strong performances by Voight as FDR, Tom Sizemore as another variation of the grunt he played in Saving Private Ryan, Dan Ackroyd as the one man who predicts the attack and even Baldwin in a role offered to Kevin Costner. The supporting cast is fairly solid, as is Beckinsale as the nurse with really red lipstick. I think Josh Hartnett has finally made it with Harbor after trying with the Faculty and Halloween H20. Now about Affleck, I have come to the opinion that Ben doesn’t really act in movies. I think he just shows up on the set and asks for work then lets himself get filmed. He’s so casual and relaxed that this has to be the case.

Pearl Harbor’s not on my top 5 best war films of all time but it’s not one of the worst films ever. My top 5 would be Platoon, Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, the Big Red One and Saving Private Ryan. Harbor would be down with such films as Hamburger Hill or Flight of the Intruder which weren’t great films but weren’t horrible either.

A SECOND OPINION...

PEARL HARBOR (*1/2)
The Japanese military plan and execute the surprise attack of a Hollywood love triangle. A wasted opportunity to tell the story of the "greatest generation". Actors who look like Calvin Klein models play WWII dress-up Insipid, fascicle and a little despicable. What a shame.
-Jim Rutkowski