The tragedy behind Pearl Harbor the movie is that in order to minimize the risk of spending enough money to do the battle scenes justice, it was apparently necessary to appeal to the female Wal Mart shopper demographic. As much as Jeff might wish otherwise, there has to be melodramatic romance, and it has to be simple and flimsy.
The Japanese raid itself is amazing to watch. It literally put a chill down my spine. Director Michael Bay deserves much credit for conveying so vividly what was such a huge and chaotic event. The action is well supported and well-paced, from tranquility to puzzlement to full-blown maximum battle fury. The special effects are weaved in with lavish real shots to create a highly convincing sequence that knocked this viewer’s socks off. What an outstanding job! The middle 1/3 of the movie is easily worth the price of admission.
And then there’s the cheesy love triangle. It’s not as bad as I feared it might be, especially for the first half of the film. As a matter of fact, army nurse Kate Beckinsale is quite lovely to watch, and the chemistry is almost believable, first with the handsome Ben Affleck, then with the more modest Josh Hartnett, who steps in after Ben’s character goes missing in the English Channel. It’s after Ben Affleck resurfaces that romantic matters get particularly hoakey and tedious.
Before things go sour, however, the film does manage to establish some affection for the players, as well as create a vivid setting. Pre-war Hawaii feels inviting, carefree and luxurious, and one feels regret that it’s all about to get pulverized. In that respect, Pearl Harbor unfolds much like Titanic did, a few years earlier. (It even wraps up with an underwater montage of the real shipwreck.) Like in Titanic, there are moments where you’ll probably get a lump in your throat from the sheer tragedy of what transpires (like when the once-empty hospital gets slammed with casualties).
Unlike Titanic, however, Pearl Harbor keeps on rolling for almost an hour after disaster strikes. The dumb love triangle is further smeared into our noses, and the movie extends it’s coverage to the Doolittle raid, which was a highly daring but largely symbolic counter strike against Tokyo. (Apparently, it wouldn’t do for us Americans to have a movie that concludes at the point where we get our asses kicked.) The screenplay seems to run out of fuel and crash land about the same time the bombers do over mainland China. At this point, Hollywood-style absurdity dominates what is a thoroughly mediocre and disappointing ending.
There are a few interesting performances. Ben Affleck is a good leading man. John Voigt does a good President Roosevelt. Alec Baldwin, skilled as he is, cannot overcome the cheesy lines he has to read as Colonel Doolittle.
So: don’t see Pearl Harbor for the ending. See it for the middle 1/3, which is truly jaw-dropping.