An awful lot of
people really don’t like Pearl Harbor. I didn't really understand why until I
saw the film. It’s awful. I went in expecting a historical drama with a couple
of American heroes who tragically die and which left me drained but with an
appreciation for those involved. Instead I found myself watching a romantic
film where two best friends are divided over one young nurse. It just so
happens that they are in Pearl Harbor. The film is about three hours long, but
very little of that is actually depicting the Japanese attack.
There are so many
criticisms of this film that I don’t think it would be possible to cover them
here. Instead of producing a historical film with a romance in the middle of
it, Michael Bay manages to create a romantic film with a couple of planes in
it. It is so typically Michael Bay that it becomes cheesy and then what should
be a serious film becomes a bit of a joke. And the historical inaccuracies in
the film are unbelievable. They are too numerous to even go into here, but
believe me, who ever researched that project should have been fired
immediately. At times you forget that you are watching a film about the reason
why America got involved in World War Two and seem to find yourself watching a
film about a group of soldiers who are all in love with a group of nurses. At
one point there was a line “I think World War Two just started”, and this is
shockingly poor.
And it’s not even
like the acting is good but the film is let down by the direction. Ben Afleck
takes the lead role in this film as Rafe McCawley but is so unbelievable that
the story around him, his girlfriend and his best friend becomes beyond
incredulous. I don’t want to get into an in-depth character analysis but the idea
of bringing in a back-story to the childhoods of the two soldiers is a poor
attempt to engage the audience in the characters. I quite like Ben Afleck
generally, but in Pearl Harbor it is almost like he has turned up to an exam
having revised the night before. I mean no Michael Bay actor is going to win an
Academy Award, but Ben Afleck does not engage with the audience at all. No part
of me was rooting for him or the other soldiers at any point, and instead I
found myself watching with mild disinterest as their lives unfolded and some
planes attacked them.
Kate Beckinsale
is well cast in Pearl Harbor and fits the part she is trying to play almost
perfectly. It is a shame then that the character she does play is as
transparent as both of the men she falls in love with. Obviously when one man
goes missing in action it is natural to try and move on, but by anyone’s
standards, the best friend might be a line too far. It is also a shame that the
character she plays requires next to no acting effort to complete. I was very
disappointed with her role in this film, and once again, I thought the film
detracted too much from the conflict and became more about the group of nurses
and their relationships. I don’t even want to talk about Josh Hartnett as the
other soldier in this love triangle, because he too is so unbelievable that it
is painful. Come the end of the film (which couldn't come fast enough) I don’t
care what happens to the characters and instead find myself tolerating the
frankly boring scenes just before the credits.
The only good
thing about this film is Cuba Gooding Jr. who plays one of the staff on one of
the ships and becomes so angered by the Japanese attack that he climbs atop a
turret and shoots down a plane. Much in the same way that the best bits of The
Rock have Sean Connery in them, the more redeeming scenes of Pearl Harbor (and
there are very few) have Cuba Gooding in them.
Michael Bay is
obviously aiming for a cinematic epic to rival some of the greatest war films
out there, with his own special touch added in. However, he misses the mark so
spectacularly that the film pales into insignificance. ‘Pearl Harbor’ is a
misleading title as well, because there is a good hour either side of the
attack which is unrelated to what you expect from the title of the film.
Personally, I think Michael Bay gets the overall tone of the film completely
wrong. One major criticism of Titanic is that it puts a romance into a serious
historical event, but with Pearl Harbor the romance becomes the centrepiece,
whereas in Titanic, much more of a focus is on the sinking ship.
There are more
critical reviews of Pearl Harbor out there, and there is no doubt that it
deserves most of the criticism. If someone offers to watch Pearl Harbor with
you, say no. Avoid it at all costs. It is Michael Bay’s worst film. If you are
expecting a historical depiction of Pearl Harbor you will be disappointed, and
if you are expecting a romance story you will be disappointed too. Pearl Harbor
is drawn out, long and in my opinion sets the benchmark for what a bad film
should be judged by.
