Pearl Harbor
The comparisons between "Pearl Harbor" and two other blockbusters — "Titanic" and "Tora! Tora! Tora!" — were all too inevitable. Not only do those films share some subject matter and basic story structure — all three films clock in at around three hours.Given the massive hype behind it, "Pearl Harbor's" success as a box-office attraction is pretty much guaranteed. So for the film to succeed as a cinematic epic, it has to establish itself as something completely original . . . or at least be able to stand on its own.
Unfortunately, it's too much like those other movies, as well as certain scenes from TV's "M*A*S*H" and "ER" and the 1998 end-of-the-world epic "Armageddon," which, coincidentally, came from the same filmmakers.
That said, the movie does boast some of the most impressive war re-creations ever filmed — but they are three-star battle scenes bookended by a sappy, two-star romance.
It's almost as if the filmmakers didn't believe that a strictly "historical" tale would be enough of a hook to bring in the crowds; that some audiences wouldn't buy it without soap-opera contrivances. So it's lucky for them that the film is redeemed by the more compelling war story — though at times, just barely.
With the United States still staying out of World War II, these two young Tennesseeans are going stir-crazy as they wait to get in on "the action." So Rafe volunteers to fly with British aviators in Europe, much to the chagrin of his nurse-girlfriend Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale).
To no one's surprise, the risk-taking pilot becomes an ace overseas, but when his plane is shot down, he's presumed dead. Meanwhile, Evelyn and Danny have both been shipped out to Pearl Harbor, and having received the news about Rafe, they turn to each other for comfort. But as fate would have it, Rafe has survived and returns just in time to find out about their burgeoning relationship — and to play a part in the fighting when the Japanese launch their attack against U.S. forces headquartered in Hawaii.
The good news here is that someone appears to have given director Michael Bay a dose of Ritalin. Consequently, he favors longer, lingering takes rather than the jittery, MTV-style quick cuts he's become known for. (However, he's not completely cured of that affectation, as the hospital sequences have been shot in blurry, "shaky-cam" style.)
Also, this three-hour behemoth is rather poorly paced. It takes nearly half the movie just to get to the war, and it squanders many promising opportunities.
For one thing, the film has a colorful, interesting supporting cast but allows them to do very little — especially Cuba Gooding Jr., whose stint as real-life hero Dorie Miller is much too brief.
Frankly, the filmmakers could have gotten more screen time for Gooding and the others if they had just been smart enough to just use newsreel footage of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt instead of having Jon Voight play him (complete with a phony-looking chin appliance and a too-broad accent).
As for the three leads, they're appealing enough, though only Hartnett (who's beginning to resemble a young Tommy Lee Jones) has real chemistry with Beckinsale; Affleck shines more in the wartime scenes.
"Pearl Harbor" is rated PG-13 for wartime violence (including gunfire, brawling and explosive mayhem), scattered use of profanity and racial epithets, brief gore, brief partial male nudity and a brief, fairly discreet sex scene. Running time: 183 minutes.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com