Pearl Harbor

It was the end of innocence, and the dawn of a nation's greatest glory.

Darth Buzz

SCORE: 7

First of all I'd like to say that this is one long-ass film. Pearl Harbor is a movie in need of serious editing. This thing needs to be trimmed down by at least 30 minutes. It felt like it just went on and on, at times without any direction. The first block of film is where it really needed trimming. The whole love relationship and flip flopping that occurs there is a waste of film. The story should have been more tightly woven around the actual events of Pearl Harbor. It's not like you couldn't have had a love story in there too.  It just needed tightening and there was too much soap opera.

You can't talk about Pearl Harbor and not talk about the FX. The FX were dazzling. Mr. Bay stole a page from the Spielberg book of movie warfare 101. Most of the action shots are filmed like the camera is on location with a lot of shake and disjointed point of view like in Saving Private Ryan, but unlike SPR, Pearl Harbor is a bit less intense because of the nature of the attack scenes. In PH, of course, almost all of the action comes from planes dropping bombs instead of infantry soldiers shooting each other one on one. This somewhat distances the audience from some of the grittiness of war. Another thing that was different from SPR was the casualty scenes were shot out of focus so that you don't see as much detail. I assume for a PG-13 rating. For the most part I would give Michael Bay a thumbs up for all the action. It's pretty intense. The sound department was good to go too. Lots of cool engine roar of the planes and good explosion and shooting sound FX.

Overall I liked the film but it is by no means a masterpiece. It's too heavy handed, especially with all the romance crap. It lacks the subtlety of a better film. In the end though, it's worth watching at least once. My mom summed it up perfectly, "It was good, but it wasn't as good as that Saving Private Ryan." 

Theater Rant On.

The stupid bitch that felt she had to come down and check on her children (two teenage girls) right in the fucking middle of the bombing of Pearl Harbor needs to die. Was she just so fucking clueless that she thought this would be an ok thing to do? If she was so fucking worried about her two precious offspring then they should have been seated with her. If people can't turn off their goddamn cell phones and sit and watch (without commentary) a movie for 2 to 3 hours then they shouldn't go to a theater. People suck. It's because of these inconsiderate bastards/bitches that I would rather watch the DVD at my own home than on the big screen most of the time.

Theater Rant Off.