Pearl Harbor

OK! Lets not beat around the bush, it's historically suspicious, badly written, badly cast and clearly an hour too long. A splendid "support cast" are wasted as Michael Bay and his production team think they can produce some sort of Titanic of the Skies like epic and fail in their objective. By the time of the brilliantly constructed assault by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, and "it is" exhilarating and edge of the seat heart pounding, you are left with the feeling that all the main characters in the piece are not really worth our emotional investment. It's not an outright stinker, situations such as the nurses trying to cope in the hospital during the attack are poignant, and there's a jingoistic - cum - romantic fervour that screams out that the film wants to be genuine in making you feel, well, emotionally battered. However, given the budget and time you are asked to invest in the story, it's impossible not to feel cheated as the clock ticks past the three hour mark. Perhaps it's unfair to use Titanic as a template for this type of epic? Especially since over the course of time many have come out of the woodwork to knock Titanic when previously there were nods in appreciation for it, all be it grudgingly. But Pearl Harbor just doesn't have enough about it to make it even a "time waster" recommendation, and this even allowing for some quality "Bayhem" action as the film rolls into its blunderbuss third quarter. 5/10

After about half an hour, I started to wonder if this film was going to take as long to get going as a pearl takes to form in an oyster! It's a close run thing, as it must be around eighty minutes in before the Japanese come to the rescue of the audience and introduce some action into this over-long and dreary romance. Certainly it is all handsomely presented with Ben Affleck ("Rafe") at his most swarthy as he gets it to together with "Evelyn" (Kate Beckinsale). Having put us through the usual "how to get the girl" shenanigans, though, he heads off to the UK to help in the Battle of Britain. It's from here that reports reach her that he has been killed. Enter his best friend "Danny" (Josh Hartnett) who tries to console her before, well you can guess the rest. You can also easily guess that Affleck was being paid way too much money to be out before the fighting began in earnest, so back he duly arrives and a yawn-making love triangle takes over the plot. When we finally do start to focus on the events of December 7th, 1941, the action partially redeems this film. Twenty minutes of a quickly paced depiction of the meticulously planned destruction of the US Pacific fleet that caused mayhem and carnage upon their ill-prepared quarry. The creative use of CGI and intricate photography illustrate well both the human catastrophe as well as the significant destruction of materiel. Of course, our two survive and together with their erstwhile CO "Doolittle" (Alec Baldwin) are drafted into the retaliation plan than involves a perilous, long range, bombing attack on Tokyo to demonstrated that they still have the capacity for potent response. This is two films, really, and I much preferred the later stages. Even then, though, it has a shockingly poor script and the characterisations are weak and undercooked. The technology is used well, but that's about all I can say for this sentimental and meandering offering.