Pearl Harbor

reviewed by Jaime

Quick! When was the last time I stayed up after 2 a.m.? Let's just say it was a long, long, long time ago (hey, I'm an old lady now!)

At about 11:30 p.m. I decided, hey, why don't we just start Pearl Harbor. Three hours later I was still watching.

The movie opens with a pair of boys playing in a "plane." It's pretty obvious that those boys will grow up to be Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnet (although I am still puzzled as to how the same-age kids grew into adults about 10 years apart in age). It's also pretty clear that those boys are going to grow up and become pilots.

Well, if that's what you guessed, you'd be right. The first part of the movie focuses on a lighthearted love story between Ben Affleck's character (whose name escapes me) and an Navy nurse named Evelyn. The way they fall in love is touching and funny. Meanwhile, however, danger is foreshadowed. Ben has volunteered to fight the Nazi's for England. He goes to war, leaving Evelyn, just as she and Danny (Hartnet) are called to Pearl Harbor. The love story is deftly established and, because we know the tragedy looming on the horizon, it's even more touching.

The movie continues to follow the three characters as their lives are forever changed by the Pearl Harbor attack. (For some reason, which never became clear to me, Cuba Gooding Jr.'s story is thrown in, too. Dave's theory is that Cuba was necessary to show the action at ground level.)

There is a lot of emotional manipulation - and a lot of obvious plot twists - but I was glued to the screen despite that. The actual attack is gripping, as well as nauseating. Watching the Japanese mow down drowning sailors was particularly gut-wrenching. Watching Evelyn work in the hospital made me wonder how those brave people managed to carry on surrounded by death and destruction. But the violence is not as gory as that in Saving Private Ryan.

The only complaint I have would give away part of the movie. But let's just say that the last 30 minutes should have been left on the editing room floor.

I'd recommend Pearl Harbor - but be warned: start the film well before bedtime.

 

Dave says:
This movie is flawed. It's not Bottom-of-the-Barrel flawed, but it's flawed. I agree with some of what Jaime says, and it was more engaging than I was expecting, but the love triangle is annoying, and the last half hour should have never been filmed. The special effects make it worth watching, but that's about it.