Pearl Harbor

Over the years, there have been quite a few film adaptations on the Pearl Harbor attack and despite I read about the very negative responses from the public and critics, I was expecting at least a few good things about it but apart from the effects, Pearl Harbor was an absolute disaster that deserved all the negative criticism it rightfully deserved. I mean, the film was a success as far as box office takings and it did become a blockbuster but where I am annoyed is that Michael Bay and co have robbed viewers of their money at the cinema and on DVD to watch something that is basically a lie! Before I watched it, I prepared myself for it and read the historical facts about what really happened but I don’t think there were very many that were correct at all!

Unfortunately, this is perhaps the best known version of the attack and I will admit that the effects were good as predicted but even so, they didn’t even save the film in the slightest. This was needlessly too long and it’s that simple! I will also confess that I didn’t watch the entire film. I stopped at 94 minutes and fast forwarded what was happening because I really wasn’t going to spend another 90+ minutes watching a film I was hating although I did catch the ending. I am normally a big fan of films based on true stories especially ones that are set in World War II and this is the one so-called “bio-pic” that has sunk the lowest and the makers and actors have spat in the faces of those who lost their lives and the relatives and friends of those lost ones during the attack. I think the fact that this is a Hollywood film also which makes it a weak film anyway.

Pearl Harbor is a classic tale of romance set during a war that complicates everything. It all starts when childhood friends Rafe and Danny become Army Air Corps pilots and meet Evelyn, a Navy nurse. Rafe falls head over heels and next thing you know Evelyn and Rafe are hooking up. Then Rafe volunteers to go fight in Britain and Evelyn and Danny get transferred to Pearl Harbor. While Rafe is off fighting everything gets completely whack and next thing you know everybody is in the middle of an air raid we now know as "Pearl Harbor."

Despite I still found it a tremendous disappointment to cinema and I am not a fan of Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett or even Kate Beckinsale that much, I was at least expecting the acting to be decent but it seriously failed miserable especially from Ben Affleck! A guy who seduces a girl and then leaves her to become a pilot because “he’s always dreamed it”? I could literally laugh at how pathetic that is. And how pathetic it really was with the poxy friendship too. I mean, I hated how they used a love triangle that wasn’t even real and just kept dragging on and on and on and that completely took over the attack itself! All three characters might as well have a threesome and get the hell out of this film because it really could have done so much better without all of them. Ok, I’ll admit that James Cameron’s Titanic had that with a fictional love story but that was a strong story and they actually got the historical facts correct alongside the fictional love story. The only real fact we got out of Pearl Harbor was there were bombs at Pearl Harbor by the so-called “Empire Of Japan” but there seriously had hardly any specific facts.

I have seen a few films made by Michael Bay even before I saw Pearl Harbor and I think the lowest he has even gone is with Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen and it wasn’t only until early March 2011 that he regretted the film and admitted it was crap! As for Pearl Harbor, he has officially sank down to the disaster level where Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen is and I do really hope he regrets this one deeply! For God’s sake, the attack on Pearl Harbor may have been in 1941 but despite that, people still talk about it now and, Michael, if you’re going to make a film about a very crucial event that happened in the world especially towards Americans (ohh yeah… you’re American yourself!), you need to be in the right state of mind to get the facts right! Michael, face it, you are a failure! You always have been and you always will be for eternity. Ok, what the FUCK was with the script?! I think this is the first script in a long time that I have listened to where I have literally shaken my head, sighed with shame and laughed at while watching it and it almost became quite painful! I hope if there will be another film about the attack where a director like Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood or even one of the great directors of this generation like Chris Nolan, David Fincher, Danny Boyle or someone else makes it, I would most certainly be there to see it! In fact, I dream of when that day comes!

Overall, Pearl Harbor is one of the most disappointing films of all time and it is really that simple. It’s not really like I wasn’t expecting at least a little bit of disappointment anyway but there you go. As I said, only the effects were the quality of this film and that is it! Well, I guess that is the best quality of pretty much every Michael Bay film. The best way of putting it is “big budget with small brains”. The last thing I can say in this review is that Michael Bay, Randall Wallace (screenwriter) and the majority of the actors should have been the ones who died in the attack rather than those heroes in the war who did.