PEARL HARBOR (2001) 2 stars out of 4. Starring Ben Affleck, John Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding Jr., Alec Baldwin, Jon Voight and Mako. Music by Hans Zimmer. Screenplay by Randall Wallace. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Directed by Michael Bay. Rated PG-13.
Hollywood has this unfathomable necessity to transform any monumental historical event into a backdrop for a trite and clichéd love story.
Thus it was with Titanic, and so it is with Pearl Harbor.
And while the film isnít a total dud, it is ó considering the script is by Braveheart writer Randall Wallace ó a disappointment.
The characters are by-the-numbers archetypes, the dialogue at times is purple prose and the situations are very predictable.
Only the special effects offer this three-hour elephant any saving grace.
The story revolves around two fighter pilots ó Rafe McCawley (Ben Affleck) and Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett). They have been friends for life, almost like brothers.
So, of course, a woman, Nurse Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale), is who comes between them.
Actually, Kate originally falls for Rafe, but when she and Danny believe Rafe is killed flying for the RAF, they turn to each other for consolation.
But then on the eve of the Pearl Harbor attack, Rafe returns from the dead.
And before he, Danny and Evelyn can resolve things, the Japanese are impolite enough to ruin a perfectly good Sunday morning by staging their surprise attack.
The raid, which comes about 90 minutes into the film, finally relieves the doldrums that have been building since the opening scenes.
The pyrotechnics, computer-generated images and stunt work are first rate. Yet, it also is oddly impersonal. The sailors and soldiers who are killed and wounded are merely props. We hardly learn about any of them.
The performances by Affleck and Hartnett are stalwart. However, neither is challenged dramatically. Both merely are called upon to look resolved, brave, sad or determined.
The same can be said of Beckinsale, who has the added burden of maintaining an American accent. But she has lovely teeth, which she flashes frequently.
Pearl Harbor is a pretty movie. The opening scenes between Rafe and Evelyn have that 1940s camera look to them, containing several extreme close-ups.
For a movie supposedly built around an event that transformed the United States from an isolationist nation into a world leader, it treats that occurrence like an intrusion.
The day after the attack, when Evelyn goes to visit Rafe, who has been ordered stateside along with Danny, she winds up telling him, ìAnd then all this happened.î
The movie seems to trivialize the attack, which is insulting to the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in Hawaii.
Pearl Harbor, at three hours, tries to cover a wide audience spectrum ó romance for the women and action-adventure for the men. And in that aspect it succeeds. Yet the two components never really mesh.
The movie is also a politically correct outing. The Japanese are portrayed as reluctant warriors who launch the attack because they see the United States as a threat to their empire.
You can almost hear the filmmakers, director Michael Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, apologize for allowing World War II to intrude on their love story.
There is nothing that can be written to dissuade anyone from seeing Pearl Harbor. Itís the big summer blockbuster, so people are expected to go see it.
Pearl Harbor is an uneven venture, an overblown balloon of a movie. Considering the subject matter, it fails to inspire.
Enjoy the explosions and the aerobatics. That is mostly all this movie has to offer.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on golafayette. Bloom's reviews also can be found on the Web at the Internet Movie Database site: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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