With "Pearl Harbor," you get three major combat stories for the price of one - The Battle of Britain (if only peripherally), the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, and the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. Ben Affleck is Capt. Rafe McCawley, the fly boy who becomes part of all three, and Josh Harnett is Capt. Danny Walker - Rafe’s childhood buddy who is part of the last two. You also get the story of a love triangle to neatly tie the three events together with Kate Beckinsale as Lt. Evelyn Stewart, the nurse who comes between the two heroes. The movie is written by Randall Wallace and directed by Michael Bay, who virtually created a new genre out of angst driven action movies that rely more on pyrotechnics and digital effects than plot starting with "Bad Boys" back in 1995. While the languid style of Wallace’s love story in "Braveheart" was perfectly suited to the romantic image provided by Mel Gibson, the same style is so wildly at odds with the effects driven elements of "Pearl Harbor," it’s like watching two different movies.

It was easy to cheer for the narrow escapes and explosive spectacle that characterized Michael Bay’s "The Rock" and "Armageddon," but it is difficult to muster the same enthusiasm for "Pearl Harbor" as spectacle with the weight of history around its neck. What are perceived as Michael Bay’s strengths in his other films works against him here. The snail paced padded plot about the love triangle is a snore. When the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor finally does occur, it comes more as a relief from the sluggish build up with its piecemeal sound bites than the emotional catharsis promised by the film’s title. The last thing you want to say to yourself is ‘Thank God’ when the slaughter starts. When it does come , the nail biting action on Battleship Row, the chaos on land and the heroic attempts to fight back against the Japanese invasion are offset by the unrealistic computer imagery of the enemy’s P.O.V. shots. Long overhead aerial shots of Pearl Harbor look like majestic oil paintings. War never looked so pretty. As a result, the carnage on Hawaii is more often stated than felt. These scenes call attention to Bay’s impersonal film technique instead of stirring the emotions. Consequently, one’s response to "Pearl Harbor" and the Day that still lives in Infamy, December 7, 1941, depends more on the psychological baggage and personal history one brings to the movie rather than the artistry of the filmmakers.

Comparisons of the Japanese invasion in "Pearl Harbor" to the D-Day Invasion at the beginning of "Saving Private Ryan" seem inevitable. Michael Bay seems to be striving for the same visceral excitement and emotional impact that made Steven Spielberg’s movie so thrilling. Bay uses like images of bullets whizzing through the silent void of the harbor’s waters, sailors drowning in the hulls of their sinking ships, with nurses scurrying around the hospitals like the medics on Omaha Beach giving hope to the wounded and solace to the dying. But while Spielberg assaults the senses using stop action effects and diminution of sound to make you experience the combat soldier’s state of mind, the realistic action of "Pearl Harbor" is interrupted by the fits and starts of the special effects that, once again, call attention to themselves.

Able support is provided by a cast of familiar faces with Cuba Gooding Jr. creating a commanding presence as real life Petty Officer Dorrie Miller - the first Black seaman to receive the Navy Cross. Alec Baldwin plays Lt. Colonel Jimmy Doolittle who provides inspiration to the movie’s heroes. Some of the most exciting scenes of "Pearl Harbor" have Doolittle and his core of pilots and engineers training for the invasion of Tokyo in 1942 and their escape through China. The need to strip the guts of their B-52 Bombers until they’re light enough to survive a take off from the flight deck of an aircraft carrier give "Pearl Harbor" a sense of urgency that the rest of the movie is sorely lacking.

Copyright 2001

A couple of classic war flicks with something in common with "Pearl Harbor"

"30 Seconds Over Tokyo" (1944) - Mervyn Leroy directed from a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo who later became a member of the Hollywood blacklist. This is a rousing war film that follows Spencer Tracy as Doolittle from the planning stages of his raid through his escape through China. With a very young Robert Mitchum, Van Johnson and Robert Walker.

"A Yank in the RAF" (1941) - Title tells all with Tyrone Power in London during the blitz. Power and Betty Grable make it worthwhile. He gets to bomb Germany at the end of the picture. This was made to support Britain’s war effort before the U.S. got into the fracas.

"From Here to Eternity" (1953) - The mutli-Oscar winning classic is a still an amazingly realistic look at Army life at Scofield Barracks in Hawaii. The Great cast includes Burt Lancaster as the non-com in love with his C O’s wife, Deborah Kerr, Montgomery Clift as the ex-boxer who only wants to play by the rules, Frank Sinatra as the hard head who constantly defies authority and pays the price, and Donna Reed as the hooker who falls for Clift. The movie ends with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, using stock footage to augment its authentic feel.

"December 7, 1941" (1943) - Oscar winning documentary from John Ford with footage shot by acclaimed cinematographer Gregg Toland. Ford recreated some events for continuity but the long shots of the carnage on Battleship Row are the real deal. A longer version is available on video that includes footage deemed too critical of the military back in ’43.

"Tora! Tora! Tora!" (1970) - Unlike "Pearl Harbor" , this one sticks more closely to the documented facts and events that preceded and led to the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Told from both the U.S. and Japanese points of view, the movie unflinchingly portrays the blunders as well as the heroics. The recreation of the attack is still riveting. With some of the great second leads of the time - Martin Balsam, Jason Robards, E.G. Marshall, and James Whitmore among others.

"I Bombed Pearl Harbor" (1962) Toshiro Mifune is a featured player in this controversial Japanese version of the bombing of Pearl Harbor told from one pilot’s point of view. It went into limited released in a dubbed version in the states and was shown on TV a short time later on some local independent stations.