|
|
|
Pearl Harbor
Movie Stats & Links |
| Starring: |
Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate
Beckinsale, Alec Baldwin, Jon Voight, Cuba Gooding, Jr. |
| MPAA Rated: |
PG-13 |
| Released By: |
Touchstone
Pictures |
| Kiddie Movie: |
It's got a love
story - good for the girls but boring for the boys. |
| Date Movie: |
She might like it
better than you. |
| Gratuitous Sex: |
Kate almost gets
naked. |
| Gratuitous
Violence: |
The bombing of
Pearl Harbor is very realistic. |
| Action: |
Not until the
bombings. |
| Laughs: |
There's a chuckle. |
| Memorable
Scene: |
Duh, the bombing
of Pearl Harbor. |
| Memorable
Quote: |
"This is no
shit." |
| Directed By: |
Michael Bay |
| Produced By: |
Jerry Bruckheimer,
Michael Bay |
|
|
Pearl Harbor
A Movie Review |
|
 |
Maybe the thinking came about like this: "Wow,
that ‘Titanic’ movie was huge, and you know what, other than the
boat sinking it was a fake story. Can you think of another historic
event that we can build a fake love story around?" "I’ve
got it boss, how about the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and you know
what, when we do the previews for it why don’t we tone down the
lovey-dovey stuff and just show it as a kick-ass war movie, you
know, like that
‘Saving Private Ryan?’" "Wow, that
sounds great! Get to work!" At least that’s my take on how
this movie might have come about. But seriously, well maybe not
seriously, "Pearl Harbor" is a chick-flick advertised like
a war movie. Sure it’s got a kick-ass reenactment of the bombing
of Pearl Harbor and Doolittle’s raid on Tokyo, but getting to
those scenes, well, you’ve got to deal with a lovey-dovey
storyline that makes this three hour movie seem like, well, three
hours.
So instead of Kate and Leo, this time we get Kate and Ben with
Josh tossed in for a threesome. Ben Affleck is Rafe, and Josh
Hartnett is Danny. They are best friends, grew up together, dreamed
of flying together, and end up as navy pilots. Kate Beckinsale is
Evelyn, a naval nurse. As it turns out Rafe works his magic and gets
Evelyn to like him. All is going well except that Rafe volunteers
for work with the British pilots to fight the Germans. He breaks the
news to Evelyn and tells Danny that if something happens to him,
well, Danny should be the one to tell Evelyn. Low and behold Rafe is
shot-down and assumed dead, Danny tells Evelyn, Evelyn is
heartbroken, and yes, three months later, well, Danny and Evelyn
hook up and all is well with the two of them. You know the saying
about assuming, and yes, Rafe isn’t really dead and somehow makes
it to Pearl Harbor quicker than the telegram saying he is still
alive. Now Rafe is mad at Danny, Danny tries to justify his dating
Evelyn to Rafe, and Evelyn doesn’t really know what to do. Sounds
like a great war movie doesn’t it?
So our threesome is having their own problems trying to figure
out there lives when, wouldn’t you know it, the Japanese bomb
Pearl Harbor. A lot of people die, Rafe and Danny are off to do some
heroic flying, the bombing is over, and Rafe, Danny, and Evelyn are
still trying to figure out their lives. And damn, wouldn’t you
know it, Colonel Doolittle (Alec Baldwin) wants Rafe and Danny to
join his secret mission. They’re off to bomb Tokyo, Evelyn tells
Rafe she will always love him but she has to stay with Danny (I’m
sure you can figure out why), the U.S. bombs Tokyo, and Rafe and
Evelyn live happily ever after.
Sure, tossed in between our love story are some military leader
scenes, the Japanese planning their attack, the U.S. military
leaders and politicians not sure what to do with all of the
information about Japanese aggressive movements, and a very cool
version of F.D.R. played by Jon Voight.
I guess for me "Pearl Harbor" wasn’t that bad of a
movie except next time lets try running trailers showing what the
movie really is – a generic, fictional love story set against a
real historic event. Maybe that’s why "Titanic" worked
so well as apposed to "Pearl Harbor." For
"Titanic" we knew there would be a lot of story build-up
and lovey-dovey crap leading up to the boat sinking, but for
"Pearl Harbor" all we really got was a trailer
spotlighting the war story. It had the potential to be a kick-ass
war movie clocking in at the normal two hours if you got rid of the
hokey love story, it had the potential to be an okay romantic movie
for the chicks, but putting the two together just left "Pearl
Harbor" as a three hour mix of not knowing really what kind of
movie it really wanted to be.
In the end I’ll give "Pearl Harbor" 3 ½ stars out of
5. It could have been a decent romantic love story, it could have
been a fantastic war movie, but it couldn’t be both.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!! |
