Pearl Harbor

Starring: Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, Colm Feore, Alec Baldwin
Directed by: Michael Bay
Rating: PG-13
Genre: War, Romance
2001

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Story of two young hotshot pilots (Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett) who find themselves stationed at Pearl Harbor in December, 1941. They find themselves both in love with the same woman, a dedicated nurse (Kate Beckinsale). The Japansese attack, and all hell breaks lose.

Review:

Tim: This film at first looked impressive: a young, talented cast, great and proven team of Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay, amazing special effects, and a love story set against a historical tragedy (we'll get to the Titantic similarities later).

The question is, does this film live up to the high expectations placed upon it?The cast did look impressive. Ben Affleck gives a good performance. While he faced some criticism for not looking like a real fighter pilot, those people that made that claim are full of shit. He's an actor, and he does an excellent job, and in my opinion, looks every inch the part. He doesn't give an extraordinary performance, but there's nothing wrong with it, either. He was called upon to show a fairly wide range of emotions, and does so with skill.

The more I see of Josh Hartnett, the better I like him. I'm impressed with his work here. While it does have its flaws, and at times he seems constipated, for the most part his performance is commendable. I really liked him in The Faculty, and he does well here, too.

I'm not too sure of what to think about Kate Beckinsale. I thought she was decent in Serendipity, and here she's not too bad either. Her performances are less than spectacular, but she plays her part well. The chemistry between her and both leading men isn't bloodboiling, but at least it's not nonexistant, either.

This film also featured some spectacular special effects. The twenty or so minute battle scene is really intense, and great to watch. If you like seeing things blown up, then you definitely won't want to miss out on the scenes here. I think that while they are impressive, they were overrated by many people. The special effects are good, but not all that good.

You can't really mention this film without thinking of Titanic- both are larger than life, romances set against the backdrop of a historical tragedy. This film tries really hard to be like Titanic, but just can't. Now, I'm not a huge Titanic fan, but that film was better in many aspects than this one. For one, the love story in Titanic is MUCH better than the one in this one. Leonardo and Kate have much more chemistry than Affleck and Beckinsale. Furthermore, Titanic is a much smarter movie, and more enjoyable to watch. Its a shame that you have to compare these two movies, but if Pearl Harbor didn't try so desperately to be Titanic, you wouldn't have as much of a problem.

This film isn't bad, and honestly, I quite enjoyed watching it. It's entertaining, interesting to watch a battle that either you lived through or heard about in history class, and the love story does have its moments as well. This film could have been much better, and I think slightly lower down the scale of the level of movies we've come to expect from Bruckheimer. Its not a bad rent, though, and if you haven't seen it, you should check it out.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 8



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Titanic, Armageddon, The Rock, Reindeer Games, The Faculty, Serendipity