Just another American Film....But I still love it (Pearl Harbor (DVD))

Member Name: Loz6DN

Product:	Pearl Harbor (DVD)
Date:	19/05/04 (440 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Effects, Fantastic Acting, Emotionally powerful

Disadvantages: Very Long, Some scenes were really unecessary

One thing I regret is not going to see Pearl Harbour at the cinema. There's a point in the film where the camera follows a bomb being dropped (just one of the many amazing cinematic effects) and, as I was saying, this would have been amazing to see in the cinema, on the "big screen."

But aside from that Pearl Harbour is one out of thousands of war films that can pull off the American patriotism and the typical War meets Love theme, although there is an original twist in the tale!

Oh and just to let youy know early on...I haven't included a section on the DVD features, but their ratings are at the bottom of the page.

Pearl Harbour, if you haven't found out, is a "retelling" of the events that happened on December 7, 1941. Now I don't pretend to think that this is a true story, because it isn't. It is bias, it has so many errors (see bottom of review) BUT that is not the point. Let me just remind the cynics out there what Pearl Harbour is. It is a film, it was designed for enjoyment. Treat it like a History Programme and you WILL be disappointed, but take it for what it is and you will see a piece of brilliant cinematography.

Now the American patriotism I hear you ask. Well let's put it like this, the heroic speeches and dramatic walks alongside the powerful music make you want to stand up and salute the stars and stripes. And oh yes....I'm British!! It just goes to show what a powerful piece of cinematography this is.

So let's get down to the details, Pearl Harbour is a film based on the Japanese bombing of Pear Harbour just before America joined the second world war. We have:

Ben Affleck...Captain Rafe McCawley
Josh Hartnett...Captain Danny Walker
Kate Beckinsale...Nurse Lt. Evelyn Johnson
Cuba Gooding Jr....Petty Officer Miller
Jon Voight...Roosevelt
Alec Baldwin...Lt. Col. Doolittle

Cuba Gooding Jr, although perhaps only has a mino
r role does deliver a memerable performance.

Affleck and Beckinsale's chemistry, and Hartnett's for that matter, could be criticised, perhaps not seemingly passionate enough. But this is not something I picked up on in the film, and the actors mentioned delivered brilliant perfomances.

Pearl Harbour is not just another war film, for one thing it does not have the gore seen in films such as Saving Private Ryan, which makes it suitable for the younger audience and those with a nervous disposition! It is romantic and sad and anyone that is not moved by this film should stick to a less romantic genre. At the heart of it that is what Pearl Harbour is all about- The Romance

One criticism would be the length, there is A LOT of the film that could have been cut out. But that's very subjective so basically: great film, go see it!

But there are of course many hundreds of people, possibly hundereds of thousands that absolutely hated this film. So for you, here is something you may find interesting:

*The Countless Errors of Peral Harbour*
Anachronisms:
Props used are that of World War II
A modern barcode is seen on a whiskey bottle
Air Conditioning Units are visible on the white house
Evelyn wears a bikini, but the bikini did not make its appearance until 1946
The licence plate on a car says 1943
One of the machine gunners has a pack of MODERN Marlboro Lights
Evelyn's house has a modern rocking style light switch
There is a tall builiding that says Est.1953

Factual Errors:
Many of the events shown in the movie did not happen, or happened differently on the morning of 7 December 1941. But like I said, this is not a documentary, so don't be picky!
Mitchell Field on Lond Island is actually called Mitchel Field
At the time the Japanese wrote from right to left, but in the film the did the opposite
A bomb dropped does not land vertically, but apparantly it
did at Pearl Harbour!
Pilot Lt Red Winkle had a stutter but no WWII pilot would have as it was vital that all pilots could communicate clearly

There are many continuity and revealing mistakes, but if you want to read these try searching on google, as there are just too many to list!

You may also be interested to know that it was directed by Michael Bay, who directed Bad Boys and the outstanding Armageddon.

But to end on a good note, despite the length of the film it is something you should watch and if you love romance in films then you should love this film!

Summary: