Pearl Harbor (2001)
December 7, 1941. A date which will live in infamy.
Well it should anyway, its unfortunate that the Bruckheimer/Bay team got a hold of it and turned it into an unconvincing heart-string-tugging love story with a happy ending. There, I said it.
OK so maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but there are a lot of ways this film just trips over itself. From the over-the-top acting and directing, to the Rambo-ish yells of Cuba Gooding Jr. on the AA gun, to Tom Sizemore firing a pump-action shotgun at the dive bombing Zeroes. And don't forget the airplane "chase" at an average altitude of about 20 ft. through the hangars....
Yikes. I went into this hoping for more, but came out less-than-impressed. In essence its a love story wrapped in a war movie. There's not much else to say than that. It would have been a lot better (and *shorter*) to just end the thing after the invasion had happened, the love triangle resolved and everyone gone back to business as usual.
But they manage to tack on another lengthy bit after the invasion in an attempt to put our heroes back into action during the ballsy and dangerous Doolittle Raid of April, 1942. That entire segment is almost a film unto itself. And probably should have been.
If you're after about three hours of mindless, weepy love story junk told in the context of Pearl Harbor, then sure, why not. There are much better (and shorter) tellings of this moment in history, and of the Doolittle Raid. At the very least, much more truthful and accurate versions.
Technorati Tags: war movies, pearl harbor, love story, doolittle raid, dvd
Well it should anyway, its unfortunate that the Bruckheimer/Bay team got a hold of it and turned it into an unconvincing heart-string-tugging love story with a happy ending. There, I said it.
OK so maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but there are a lot of ways this film just trips over itself. From the over-the-top acting and directing, to the Rambo-ish yells of Cuba Gooding Jr. on the AA gun, to Tom Sizemore firing a pump-action shotgun at the dive bombing Zeroes. And don't forget the airplane "chase" at an average altitude of about 20 ft. through the hangars....
Yikes. I went into this hoping for more, but came out less-than-impressed. In essence its a love story wrapped in a war movie. There's not much else to say than that. It would have been a lot better (and *shorter*) to just end the thing after the invasion had happened, the love triangle resolved and everyone gone back to business as usual.
But they manage to tack on another lengthy bit after the invasion in an attempt to put our heroes back into action during the ballsy and dangerous Doolittle Raid of April, 1942. That entire segment is almost a film unto itself. And probably should have been.
If you're after about three hours of mindless, weepy love story junk told in the context of Pearl Harbor, then sure, why not. There are much better (and shorter) tellings of this moment in history, and of the Doolittle Raid. At the very least, much more truthful and accurate versions.
Technorati Tags: war movies, pearl harbor, love story, doolittle raid, dvd
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