Pearl Harbor
1/2
Cinema
Releases - June 1, 2001
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate 12. 183
minutes. Directed by Michael Bay. Written by Randall Wallace. Starring Ben
Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Ewen Bremner, Jon Voight, Alec
Baldwin.
When FDR declared November 7, 1941 to be "a date
which will live in infamy", he wasn't kidding. Two and a half thousand Americans
died when Japan made its unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbour -- sailors,
mechanics, nurses and various other stationary personnel. It was a shocking
event that simply forced the US into World War Two. It was a terrible
day.
Michael Bay's "Pearl Harbor" is
a cheerfully offensive rape of history that cheapens the lives of World War
Two veterans by making a dumb popcorn movie out of their suffering while
assuming the form of an epic. The film is three hours long, with major stars,
lots of soppy music, and a clear desire to be taken seriously -- yet it's
a phoney affair that exploits the Pearl Harbour tragedy for action set pieces
and cornball filler.
All this movie attempts to do is copy every level
of "Titanic" and fool viewers into thinking they're seeing something just
as good. The filmmakers tried to get the same amount of publicity by originally
budgeting the project at $250million. They've given the picture a big running
time. They've used a love story to frame a famous historical disaster. They've
cast a British actress in the lead female role. The opening credits even
use the "Titanic" font.
But "Titanic" came from James Cameron's heart,
and "Pearl Harbor" pulls something out of the history books at random in
a forced attempt to repeat the success. "Titanic" polished disaster movie
conventions into something special; "Pearl Harbor", in clumsily copying that
screenplay, reverts to standard disaster movie dumbness.
The plot involves a love triangle between Ben
Affleck, Josh Hartnett and Kate Beckinsale. Affleck and Hartnett play pilots
who have been friends since childhood; Beckinsale is a nurse who Affleck
falls for right before shipping off to England to help the RAF. Even though
they've known each other for only a few hours, they pledge undying love to
each other, and correspond by mail while Hartnett and Beckinsale train at
Pearl Harbour.
Word reaches the pair that Affleck has died helping
the British. In their grief, they too start a love affair. You can imagine
their shock when Affleck returns from the dead, telling them the news they
heard was all a big mistake. To make matters more complicated, Beckinsale
turns out to be pregnant with Hartnett's baby. After the movie has found
time to show the attack on Pearl Harbour, it returns to the romantic claptrap,
with Beckinsale delivering the immortal line "I'm gonna give your best friend
my whole heart... but believe me, I'll never look at another sunset without
thinking of you."
The attack sequence is realised with technical
brilliance; almost an hour is dedicated to it, and the special effects and
sound design fully convey the brutal onslaught of fury the Japanese unleashed
onto the ground that day. But it's depressing to know that the filmmakers
were aware of the horror of the event and still decided to surround it with
goofy and clichéd bollocks. Even the attack sequence degenerates into
silly "Top Gun"-style chases, with pilots playing chicken and shouting "Woohoo!
I got two more of them Jap suckers!"
Here's another day that will live in infamy: May
21, 2001, when the U.S. Air Force allowed Paramount Pictures to hold the
"Pearl Harbor" world premiere on its premises. This is a movie that walks
over the graves of those who fought for the free world. Only in the America
of George W. Bush would the military approve of it, instead of telling Michael
Bay that his work is appalling and where to stick the
premiere.
COPYRIGHT©
2001 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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