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Pearl Harbor

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Pearl Harbor (2001)

May. 21,2001
|
6.2
|
PG-13
| Drama Action History Romance
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The lifelong friendship between Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker is put to the ultimate test when the two ace fighter pilots become entangled in a love triangle with beautiful Naval nurse Evelyn Johnson. But the rivalry between the friends-turned-foes is immediately put on hold when they find themselves at the center of Japan's devastating attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

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Scanialara
2001/05/21

You won't be disappointed!

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Stellead
2001/05/22

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

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TrueHello
2001/05/23

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

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Allison Davies
2001/05/24

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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cinephile-27690
2001/05/25

I've seen about a third of this movie, and the 2 star rating applies to that hour. I don't care about the other 2. The movie tries to recreate "Titanic" using a forbidden love story around the story of 12/7/41. My youth pastor doesn't like this movie either, mainly because it uses one of America's greatest moments in history and turns it into a love story. I was bored by it. I first saw it when I was 10ish and I was bored. I thought it might be since it was long. In 10th grade we had to watch the attack scene, which is why the rating is 2 stars and not 1. Roger Ebert gave this 2 out of 5 stars (or 1.5/4 on his scale) , so he didn't like it either. I'll paste his review below. There's 3 people who don't like it. It has a 6/10 on IMDB. Does it sound like many people care for it? Roger's Review:"Pearl Harbor" is a two-hour movie squeezed into three hours, about how on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese staged a surprise attack on an American love triangle. Its centerpiece is 40 minutes of redundant special effects, surrounded by a love story of stunning banality. The film has been directed without grace, vision, or originality, and although you may walk out quoting lines of dialog, it will not be because you admire them. The filmmakers seem to have aimed the film at an audience that may not have heard of Pearl Harbor, or perhaps even of World War Two. This is the Our Weekly Reader version. If you have the slightest knowledge of the events in the film, you will know more than it can tell you. There is no sense of history, strategy or context; according to this movie, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because America cut off its oil supply, and they were down to an 18 month reserve. Would going to war restore the fuel sources? Did they perhaps also have imperialist designs? Movie doesn't say. So shaky is the film's history that at the end, when Jimmy Doolittle's Tokyo raiders crash-land in China, they're shot at by Japanese patrols with only a murky throwaway explanation about the Sino-Japanese war already underway. I predict some viewers will leave the theater sincerely confused about why there were Japanese in China. As for the movie's portrait of the Japanese themselves, it is so oblique that Japanese audiences will find little to complain about apart from the fact that they play such a small role in their own raid. There are several scenes where the Japanese high command debates military tactics, but all of their dialog is strictly expository; they state facts but do not emerge with personalities or passions. Only Admiral Yamamoto (Mako) is seen as an individual, and his dialog seems to have been singled out with the hindsight of history. Congratulated on a brilliant raid, he demurs, "A brilliant man would find a way not to fight a war." And later, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant." Do you imagine at any point the Japanese high command engaged in the 1941 Japanese equivalent of exchanging high-fives and shouting "Yes!" while pumping their fists in the air? Not in this movie, where the Japanese seem to have been melancholy even at the time about the regrettable need to play such a negative role in such a positive Hollywood film. The American side of the story centers on two childhood friends from Tennessee with the standard-issue screenplay names Rafe McCawley (Ben Affleck) and Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett). They enter the Army Air Corps and both fall in love with the same nurse, Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale)--first Rafe falls for her, and then, after he is reported dead, Danny. Their first date is subtitled "Three Months Later" and ends with Danny, having apparently read the subtitle, telling Evelyn, "Don't let it be three months before I see you again, okay?" That gets almost as big a laugh as her line to Rafe, "I'm gonna give Danny my whole heart, but I don't think I'll ever look at another sunset without thinking of you." That kind of bad laugh would have been sidestepped in a more literate screenplay, but our hopes are not high after an early newsreel report that the Germans are bombing "downtown London"--a difficult target, since although there is such a place as "central London," at no time in 2,000 years has London ever had anything described by anybody as a "downtown." There is not a shred of conviction or chemistry in the love triangle, which results after Rafe returns alive to Hawaii shortly before the raid on Pearl Harbor and is angry at Evelyn for falling in love with Danny, inspiring her timeless line, "I didn't even know until the day you turned up alive--and then all this happened." Evelyn is a hero in the aftermath of the raid, performing triage by using her lipstick to separate the wounded who should be treated from those left to die. In a pointless stylistic choice, director Michael Bay and cinematographer John Schwartzman shoot some of the hospital scenes in soft focus, some in sharp focus, some blurred. Why? I understand it's to obscure details deemed too gory for the PG-13 rating. (Why should the carnage at Pearl Harbor be toned down to PG-13 in the first place?) In the newsreel sequences, the movie fades in and out of black and white with almost amusing haste, while the newsreel announcer sounds not like a period voice but like a Top-40 deejay in an echo chamber. The most involving material in the film comes at the end, when Jimmy Doolittle (Alec Baldwin) leads his famous raid on Tokyo, flying Army bombers off the decks of Navy carriers and hoping to crash-land in China. He and his men were heroes, and their story would make a good movie (and indeed has: "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo"). Another hero in the movie is the African-American cook Dorie Miller (Cuba Gooding Jr.), who because of his race was not allowed to touch a gun in the racist pre-war Navy, but opens fire during the raid, shoots down two planes, and saves the life of his captain. He's shown getting a medal. Nice to see an African-American in the movie, but the almost total absence of Asians in 1941 Hawaii is inexplicable. As for the raid itself, a little goes a long way. What is the point, really, of more than half an hour of planes bombing ships, of explosions and fireballs, of roars on the soundtrack and bodies flying through the air and people running away from fighters that are strafing them? How can it be entertaining or moving when it's simply about the most appalling slaughter? Why do the filmmakers think we want to see this, unrelieved by intelligence, viewpoint or insight? It was a terrible, terrible day. Three thousand died in all. This is not a movie about them. It is an unremarkable action movie; Pearl Harbor supplies the subject, but not the inspiration.This is one person's comment on it: "One of my least favorite movies. A person that likes 'Pearl Harbor" must immediately begin proving that he/she is not an idiot, and I doubt that can be done." Is there anything more to say? It may have been an important event but it's not an important movie.

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beccaalicej
2001/05/26

Why are people so harsh on judging? "Not historically accurate" be quiet it's not a history book it's a film for entertainment !! What's not to love ?? The love story the action the intense passion it makes you feel for our troops British and American ! Has me in tears every single time

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gaspardmoretto
2001/05/27

This film is a great representation of the japanese attack of Pearl Harbor in 1943. There is a lot of tension in the fight scenes, especially those in the air between american and japanese pilot, thanks to well realized special effects. The film shows the extreme determination of the japanese and their love of honor. The two main charachters, two friends, are attaching and their love stories with the same woman is very tragic and it gives his emotion to the movie. However, this emotion can be also a negative point when it's cliché and mushy. The relation between the characters are too stereotiped, the nurse falls in love with the two brave soldiers who risk their lives fighting the in war... But it's a good point for the afficionados of love stories. So, despite a few flaw, it's really a good movie that you will appreciate.

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Amy Edwards
2001/05/28

You heard me people! If you're an history buff looking for authenticity , this movie is not for you.Indeed, it seems obvious that making an history movie was not the intention of Michael Bay at all. Many of the historical facts of that dreadful day have been overlooked or deliberately tweaked. I can cite the Eagle squadron, the one Rafe flew with during the battle of Britain , which is pure fiction or the fact that both heroes are able to switch from fighter pilots to Bomber ones in a blink of an eye which was a good one. So if you are only looking for authenticity, I should suggest you to watch movies like Tora!Tora!Tora! instead which are far more accurate.But it has also its moments and besides those flaws, this movie is very entertaining and enjoyable to see. Some of the scenes will glue yourself to your seat with their beautiful shots and action. The Attack on the fleet itself is masterfully done for example. The 30 minutes long part is truly breathtaking both visually and orally. Michael Bay is a master in this area and he proves it once again with that masterpiece. It has now become a classic on YouTube and it's deserved.Now as a romantic girl, I couldn't help myself being moved by the love story between the characters. Sure the dialogues are more than cheesy sometimes but it's touching anyway and will make you smile. It's also not the most original story I've ever seen but it's entertaining and enjoyable to see so who cares! I remember crying at the end of the movie especially the last scene which was heartbreaking. So leave the history out and enjoy the movie. It may not be the perfect flick but it's not a bad one neither. If you are forgiving about the historic mishaps, you will like it.

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