A script that will live in infamy - Pearl Harbor Reviews

President Roosevelt said that December 7, 1941 was "a day which will live in infamy." Not if Hollywood has its way, though. The new, much-hyped, star-studded summer blockbuster PEARL HARBOR makes the earth-shattering sneak attack seem, sadly, forgettable. Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett play two childhood buddies dodging bombs at the "infamous" naval station who want us to think that the most compelling action underway entails a boy-crazy nurse (Kate Beckinsale) they are both involved with. The surprise attack, and other war episodes, are just scenery -- for the schmaltzy love triangle story, which never gets off the ground. Obviously, the intent of the filmmakers was to provide a love story, ?a TITANIC (1997) for audiences to latch onto and humanize the tragedy. The problem is that (spoiler alert!, spoiler alert!) *nothing* happens to these people during the attack. When it finally comes, nearly an hour and a half into the sappy, stock story, the attack plays out as this fire and light show -- a sure visual feast -- that is completely disconnected from the rest of the movie. Instead, the pic insists on bumbling on about this story we really do not care about -- even while the story we *do* care about (the spectacular attack) is unfolding in the background. As a result, the writers have to add an additional military exploit at the end (as if the "day which will live in infamy" was somehow not enough), to resolve the drawn-out story line, even after the main course has been well digested. The bookends of the film, involving the Battle of Britain and General Doolittle's expedition (bombing Tokyo) have the feel of sloppy afterthoughts. Especially with the Doolittle episode at the tail end of the film, it is obvious to us that the entire mounting of the episode is but a charade to resolve the love triangle by attrition. Once we know that, we can discern that all these guys about to fly out to Japan to get killed are totally dispensable to the scriptwriters -- why should *we* care? This is a terrible way to honor WWII vets -- by turning them into toy soldiers! The early part of the film set in Britain, is not much better. It is a slap in the face to our English friends to suggest that they, who endured constant bombing under the Lufwaffe while America passed neutrality laws, were really uninspired about the war and it took an American hotshot (Affleck) to come and rally them. (The neutrality laws, historians point out, would have made this entire episode impossible because Affleck, who plays an active duty soldier, could not have legally been sent.) At over three hours of length, and $140M to make, this movie is a total waste of time, money, and effort. If you want to pay tribute to "The Greatest Generation," read the book (by Tom Brokaw). (Carlos Colorado)

Tripe with a capital t - Pearl Harbor Reviews

What more can I say about this truely appaling film, Surely it could have been better? more accurate, maybe even you know Balanced. And maybe the director could have kept the camera still for even maybe a second, people won't get bored if the camera isn't moving all the time, trust me I should know, I am an oscar winning director, although I won't tell you my name, I'll give you a clue, my initals are PJ, okay, ciao!

Terrible and inaccurate - Pearl Harbor Reviews

I'm a huge military buff on the epic battles between the IJN and U.S.N. of World War 2.And I never thaught I would say this but that horrible movie made me want to hail the emporer and jump into a Vale and torpedo the crap out of Bay's so called Pearl Harbor.I'm not evening going into the plot cause there is no point in it.Either you slept in history class and loved it or admire WW2 vets and hated it.The scene of the big explosion on Arizona was great and the slow death of the Oklahoma was truly tragic and got me good.But besides those two rare examples the rest of the Pacific fleet is treated like crap.Where is the Nevada's valiant dash which raised so many spirits that tragic morning.Plus I loved the super carrier in the Japanese task force,how the crap did we beat them in that war with that much firepower at their command.With older movies like Tora,Tora,Tora and Midway there was a real effort to try and make things as historical as possible.Not with Bay it just seems like he throws in whatever is at hand.Modern warships like Burke class guided missile destroyers and super carriers.My last grip is why are there two Army Air Corps men on a battleship watching a boxing match.I waited along time for a modern WW2 naval war movie that is great and I suppose I can wait an even longer time now.Just one request please oh please I hope Bay dosen't decide to ruin any more Pacific theater opperations.

Bilge - Pearl Harbor Reviews

This movie has such classic lines as "Get out of the way!" and "We're sinking!" (yelled by an anonymous sailor as he stands on the deck of a sinking ship) really? is that what sinking means? a boat full of holes filling up with water, and going under the surface? this movie is so stupid, that i was nearly in shock. how many times does ben affleck yell 'get out of the way'? how many actors say their lines instead of yell them? the lines are amazingly stupid. instead of allowing the viewers to see the action there is a running commentary like 'we're dying....we're sinking' really? doesn't almost every american already know about what happened at pearl harbor? does this movie have to have the actors telling the audience what is happening at the same time the images are showing it, and the audience already knows anyway? what an exercise in redundancy. and why is pearl harbor so exagerrated as a 'disaster' anyway?? it's ridiculous...several thousand americans died, but the american air force killed MILLIONS of japanese civilians when they firebombed 67 japanese cities, and that was BEFORE we nuked them! the pearl harbor incident is so overstated. so the japanese lied, and then attacked us. how many times did the U.S. government lie to the native americans, kill them, take their land, and then lie even more? america has such a double standard when it comes to justice.

Piece of crap - Pearl Harbor Reviews

They took a tragic tale that could've probably been one of the best movies ever and created crap. Sure the attack was well staged and the bombing in Tokyo was done pretty well also. But other than that the film lacked everything. They had the wrong cast, bad acting, and the love story completely sucked. No wonder it "bombed" at the box office. Take out the love story and you got yourself a 2 hour good movie, but with it you lost any chance of having a classic film.

Amazing special effects! - Pearl Harbor Reviews

Okay, I admit- I like this movie even though it's not the best film ever. The story was cheesy, which gave the actors poor dialogue to work with, but overall this film moved me. The Dec.7th battle is awesome- try watching it and keeping dry eyes!

Horrible - Pearl Harbor Reviews

I hated this movie. The story line was stupid and utterly unbelievable which ruined it. Many key aspects of the story were simply impossible- could not have occured. Did they do no research or did they have no common sense? Probably a little of both.

Romance and action in one - Pearl Harbor Reviews

i think that this movie is a chick flic and a man movie in one. the story is like no other and it was part of a real event. the males actor are really hot in this movie.

Waste of money - Pearl Harbor Reviews

worst movie ever made next to bronco billy!! terrible, 3 hours i wish i had back! Pearl Harbor is not even what this movie is about!

It blows - Pearl Harbor Reviews

Usually i love all the movies i see, but this one was- was so so PATHETIC, it was completely of the point. And they added a cheesy love thing that firstly is beside the point of Pearl Harbor. And the acting was also pathetic Ben Affleck really dissapointed me with this one. He's usually a lot better. The only good thing about this movie was that the leading guys are f***ing hot. And that's the only thing i liked it was completely a waste of my time and money.

A bad love story - Pearl Harbor Reviews

My reasoning for the grade I gave this movie. The visual effects were awesome. You almost forgot that the attack on Pearl Harbor wasn't happening in real life. It's scary to imagine that real people were attacked like this and survived. This was the only believable part of the story since it was based on true events. The rest of the movie is crap. The movie is more about a bad love triangle and it's a pathetic. The acting was horrible as with the direction of the movie. Here is the movie in a nutshell: a girl falls in love with a guy but believes that he is killed so sleeps with his best friend thus becoming pregnant. Then her true love shows up and she breaks his heart and hers b/c she can't be with him b/c of the baby. The best friend/father to be ends up getting killed (with no chance of a resurrection) so she marrys her true love and he raises his best friend's son. THE END. Like I said it's pathetic.

No justice to history= bad movie - Pearl Harbor Reviews

This is bad to the point of negative stars. Poor acting, pathetic truths to what really happened with substitution love story? One word: BAD! SKIP IT!

False advertising! - Pearl Harbor Reviews

I have never forgiven this movie for the false advertising they did. The previews were epic war scenes. It was going to be one of the best movies ever. I really couldn't wait for this movie to come out. Once I saw it a friend commented that it was Titanic in Hawaii. That was too kind. This movie was a love story with maybe 15 minutes of war scenes. Why did they think I would enjoy a bait and switch like that? All I really want out of a movie, any movie, is some entertainment. That's all. How can I enjoy a movie when I've been lied to about what the movie is about. Cuba Gooding was in the commercial as much as he was in the movie. Absolutely Terrible. Don't force feed me a made up romance when I am there for bombs, history and heroes. I think everyone knew going into Titanic that it wasn't just about the ship sinking. Everyone already knew the romantic story and that made it pretty good. This was a date movie that was disguised as a war movie. This was a sheep in wolves clothing. Terrible.

Ok.. - Pearl Harbor Reviews

The movie itself was ok, the acting ,not excellent but not horrid, the bombing and fighting episodes could have been better. So all I can say is that this movie was "ok".

Adapted from a harrelquin novel! - Pearl Harbor Reviews

This bloated excercise in stupidity. With $180 million spent on this flick, they could have afforded a decent script. Historically inaccurate, the terrific battle sequence is set aside for a desperate romance laced with awful dialogue and wooden performances. Even the Faith Hill theme song is terrible.