When I first went into the cinema, I was expecting a pretty average film, as I had read quite a few critics completely slate ‘Pearl Harbour’. When I left the cinema a brief 3 hours later, my first thought was “Ouch, my legs aren’t working properly” closely followed by “wow, that was actually pretty good!”.
And that is what ‘Pearl Harbour’ is – pretty good. It seems to have the same effect on people as marmite, you either like it or you hate it, and I’d have to say that im probably firmly in the liking it camp. Bypassing all the political ramifications that this film has had on Japanese/American relations since its release, lets get on with the actual review:
Pearl Harbour stars Ben Afleck, Josh Harnett, and Kate Beckinsale who play the three main characters that this film focuses upon. Based very very loosely on the actual event that drew USA into WWII it, like many other hollywood films, uses this premise and attaches in a love triangle to pull in the punters. Before I get too deeply into this, it would be a good thing to remember that this is a love story first, and a war movie second.
The main plot is pretty standard Hollywood fare. Rafe(Ben Aflek) and Danny (Josh Harnett) have been best friends since childhood and fulfil their dream of becoming pilots in the US Airforce. Four weeks after Rafe finds ‘the’ woman, a nurse called Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale), he transfers to England when he volunteers to
join the Eagle Squadron, a section in the RAF which has places for American recruits eager to be heroes. Inevitably he gets shot down and is declared MIA. Danny and Evelyn then seek comfort in each other, and eventually become involved months after Rafe’s assumed death. Meanwhile, the Japanese have set sail for Pearl Harbour – where Danny and Evelyn have been posted. The night before the first attack, Evelyn finds that Rafe has not been killed but has returned home, only to find out what has happened. Before anything can be properly sorted out, the attack on Pearl Harbour commences…
The film takes a while to get started. Those of you who want to watch this for the action will have to wait over 2 hours before the attack even begins. It seems rather unfortunate that the director felt he had to put so much into the film, as this means that everything is slightly rushed with the characters never really being complete. You never know, for example, just how much Evelyn loved Danny, and even when Rafe and Danny come to terms with what has happened, the actors never had any dialogue that helped the viewers see what they were feeling. The film itself was good in contrasting scenes between the idyllic state of Pearl Harbour to the war torn skies of England though. Once the attack on Pearl Harbour began, it was once again good directing, with the onslaught of action giving just enough coherence for the viewer to understand what was happening, but jumping from scene to scene enough to capture the confusion of the attack. The initial attack of the Japanese ‘Zero’ Fighters was great, showing just how badly the Americans were caught with their pants down. It is ironic how badly the film twists the truth about pearl harbour and yet some little details are correct. The blood transfusions into the empty cola bottles actually did happen during the war!
The action scenes if nothing else, are enough to pull people in. With $135 million spent on CGI effects and 17 battle ships being sunk, the computer generated effects are realistic enough to give the viewers a real sense of awe over the scale of the battle. From the ‘Saving Private Ryan’esqe underwater/muted sound effect to the sheer number of explosions, the action is fast and gripping. I was mildly surprised to find out after the film that the black cook who manned the AA gun was actually based on real life. Having found that out, it was a little disappointing that more wasn’t made of this ‘real character’ with his heroics only having a fraction of time during the fight compared to the fictional characters! It would have been much better if real characters had been given a little more credit in the film rather than playing second-fiddle to the fictional love triangle.
While the initial attack on Pearl Harbour was done quite well, the next 20 minutes were possibly the worst, most clichéd moments in this film. The Doolittle bombing raid was included in this film. While admirable, it was completely americanised. You know what I mean, the usual ‘we are the heroes of the world’ American gung-ho action, which was quite sickening. After the massacre that happened which showed quite how stupid war was, the film went on to show the ‘brave’ American soldiers adopt the same tactic as the Japanese. Deeply hypocritical, I was really annoyed when the Americans said how the Japanese kamikaze tactics were immoral and then the captain then goes on to tell his men that if they are shot down they should feel obliged to aim for the nearest military installation and take out as many people as possible. While the Japanese version was frowned upon, the film suddenly made out that the ultimate sacrifice made by the Americans was perfectly acceptable.
Having said that, the action was well choreographed but completely predictable. The ending scene of the movie pretty much ruined the whole feel of the film. Pretty much as corny and clichéd as you could get I feel that an ambiguous ending would have been better, however being a romance I guess it was an expected ending…
So, overall I recommend this film. It’ll probably be one of the best selling films of the summer, and while the film does take liberties with the truth about the war (don’t take what the film portrays as the truth, most of it is over dramatised and/or deeply biased), if you are willing to just sit back and enjoy the film, you wont be sorry. The characters were quite shallow, but despite this the film was held up by the acting of Josh Harlett and the mind numbing number of special effects towards the end as well as a pretty good music throughout which helped keep the atmosphere going. My only grudges would be that this film was inspired by Titanic (taking a historican event and twisting it badly to surround a pretty uninspiring fictional love triangle) and also that they twisted the facts of the actual event so much (the japanese attacked just cos of fuel?? yeah right, as if they wouldnt use up even more if they attacked!). Still...suspend belief and just sit back. dont wait until its out on video or DVD, it's one of those films that relies on cinema screens to bring it to life!
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Production Year: 1997 - Drama - Director: Gillian Armstrong - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Cate Blanchett, Ciaran Hinds, Tom Wilkinson, Richard Roxburgh
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
December 7th 1941 - A Day Which Will Live In InfamyAs the lives and loves of a generation ... more
are tragically swept into the greatest conflict modern man has ever known - World War II - the events at Pearl Harbor become an extreme test for the strength of t...
Advantages: Historically accurate, covers both political and military side of the conflict, no pansy romantics. Disadvantages: Doesn't have the big-budget explosions.
Jun 28th, 2001
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