Pearl Harbor: Review By Daveactor7

Perhaps the most terrible film I have seen based on historical events and perhaps one of the most confusing films based on story.

The story-a fighter pilot named Rafe and his best bud Danny are two ace pilots in the dawn of America's involvement in WWII. Rafe strikes up a relationship with a nurse named Evelyn and upon his departure overseas, he is there presumed dead. Danny and Evelyn then strike up a relationship but then Rafe returns-alive. Question-do you find ANY reference to Pearl Harbor or the impending attack in this story? Not at all. There are perhaps few minutes of scenes where random moments of government situations are placed within this troubling romance which practically is pointless. I have no clue what screenwriter Randall Wallace was trying to achieve here. His works on previous films such as "We were soldiers" and "Braveheart" were terrific. But here he takes a stumble. This story is a love story. Pearl Harbor is not even shown until perhaps through two-third of the film. The impending attack is shown for a full hour or so in blazing cgi glory. A good love triangle plot-but it has no connection to the film's basic outline: the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The acting-I found no one here worth giving praise too. Ben Affleck plays c*cky pilot Rafe and though his character evolves throughout the film somewhat, trying to show him becoming more mature, Affleck seems to be bipolar in conveying his character. Playing a c*cky pilot and in the next scene-a mature being. Josh Hartnett, is terrible once again, as his best bud Danny is undergoing the same character treatment as Affleck is and he is so unintriguing it makes one wonder-why is he in this movie? Kate Beckinsale gives a decent performance as nurse Evelyn torn between two men, but like the two characters-she also undergoes becoming a stronger woman, but still she could have gone deeper into the realms of her character but she strays on the borderline and never goes further then that. Cuba Gooding Jr.- was he just there to show an african american in the film? No disrespect, but he is totally unnecessary in this film. He does good portraying a symbol for his community in the navy, but seriously-he is just in the movie for a total amount of about 10 or 15 minutes. His character is just......there. Jon Voight as President FDR is good for only resemblance. But acting wise-it is very laughable. The entire cast does not bring the story to life (I blame the screenwriter) and even if the screenplay was not that good, they still should have given it their all to make it seem good.

The directing-I laughed when I found out Michael Bay had directed this film. Who else would have figured watching a cgi filled explosion extravaganza towards the ending of the film? It was as if Bay himself could not get used to the drama and endless dialogues that he had to put some action in there to get back the audience's attention. This film just made me think that Bay was doing this to get some oscar attention. He underestimated the quality of Wallace's script and he had nothing to help him move forward from there. He also could have helped his actors to portray more into their characters but that is unapparent here.

The visuals-the cgi throughout the entire film is perhaps the best aspect. The attack on Pearl Harbor is a lot to the eyes, but it does convey the destruction and the reality of it well. The cinematography however isn't that good however. Cinematographer John Schwartzman seemed to have glorified the attack more then focusing on the "romance". He does well in shooting angles and shots in the aspect of landscape however. My favorite shot in the entire film was the scene in which two boys are playing atop a hill only to have Japanese fighter planes zoom by in a panning/ long shot. That was the best shot out of the entire film in all honesty.

The score-Hans Zimmer's score is the best out of everything else in this film. He does so well in capturing the romance scenes and the the attack scene. He builds more of the mood-actually he builds and conveys more mood and emotion through his pieces then each character does. His score perhaps stole the show and it deserved much more then this.

Overall-I'm going to have to say, skip this. Terrible rendition of the infamous dec 7th attack and a terrible film overall.