Pearl Harbor Reviews

As we all know, the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 was a major event in history, so why not do a film version? I do applaud a film that takes on a very ambitious project, and this film is indeed that. However, I was hugely disappointed in this film, it had huge potential but it doesn't work.

Well there are some good things. Visually and technically the film looks phenomenal, the attention to detail is wonderful. The sets are realistic looking, the costumes are fine and the cinematography is stunning. The music by Hans Zimmer is pretty darn good as well, it really gives power to the climatic scenes. The action and special effects are very well done, the actual attack which forms the film's middle act is utterly riveting.

Sadly, everything else doesn't work. Shame really that one truly brilliant scene, a great score and wonderful visuals are literally gone to waste by a bloated plot, cardboard characterisations, questionable historical accuracy and an awful script.

Pearl Harbor is very long at 3 hours. Don't get me wrong I have absolutely no problem with long lengths, what was the real problem was the pace. It was so slow, that the slower scenes were close to tedious and there were parts at the beginning where I was finding it hard to keep awake. The plot is also very bloated, a lot is crammed in including a love story and old-fashioned heroics, but for a long film I was expecting a lot of attention to plot. But Michael Bay seemed to be concentrating a lot on the visual aspect of the film and seemed to have forgotten about the story. Consequently these details were underdeveloped, and the film is full to the brim with historical inaccuracies. The actors are undeniably talented, but they are given very little to work with. I had real difficulty empathising with any of the characters here, for me they seemed rather cardboard and clichéd. Ben Affleck and Kate Beckinsale both give lifeless performances and their chemistry is non-existent. Jon Voight is wasted yet again as Roosevelt, somehow he felt more like Dr Strangelove, and out of the cameos Dan Aykroyd especially is completely out of place. Bay's direction is also uneven, there are parts like in the attack itself where it is great but others where it is sloppy. But the worst asset was the script. It was AWFUL! It gave the actors very little to work with, and some of the dialogue instead of moving turned out to be unintentionally cheesy.

All in all, this film was disappointing. There are some good moments, but a vast majority of it doesn't work. 4/10 Bethany Cox

I actually already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I had it on DVD, I thought I might as well check it out again. Well, it might be the most hated movie directed by Michael Bay so far. I mean, it is pretty obvious that Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer went way over their head with this historical flick which was their most ambitious project. Indeed, even though it was financially rather successful, it was at the time a huge critical failure and it was despised by a good chunk of its audience. Surprisingly, I don't think it was really so bad though. Indeed, I ended up watching it with my wife (who likes it very much) and maybe because I had the lowest expectations towards the damned thing, I was eventually positively surprised. Basically, it pretty much followed the same template used 'Titanic'. Indeed, for 3/4 of the running time, they gave us a rather underwhelming love story and, at some point, they switched to an impressive depiction of one of the most famous American tragedies. The only major difference with 'Titanic' was that, in this case, they decided to add a final act to make sure that one of the 2 guys could die. So, when the attack on Pearl Harbor was done, the story actually kept going on which was a rather misguided choice. Anyway, to conclude, of course, it is not a great movie but I don't think it is the worst movie delivered by Michael Bay so far and I actually think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Over the years, there have been quite a few film adaptations on the Pearl Harbor attack and despite I read about the very negative responses from the public and critics, I was expecting at least a few good things about it but apart from the effects, Pearl Harbor was an absolute disaster that deserved all the negative criticism it rightfully deserved. I mean, the film was a success as far as box office takings and it did become a blockbuster but where I am annoyed is that Michael Bay and co have robbed viewers of their money at the cinema and on DVD to watch something that is basically a lie! Before I watched it, I prepared myself for it and read the historical facts about what really happened but I don’t think there were very many that were correct at all!


Unfortunately, this is perhaps the best known version of the attack and I will admit that the effects were good as predicted but even so, they didn’t even save the film in the slightest. This was needlessly too long and it’s that simple! I will also confess that I didn’t watch the entire film. I stopped at 94 minutes and fast forwarded what was happening because I really wasn’t going to spend another 90+ minutes watching a film I was hating although I did catch the ending. I am normally a big fan of films based on true stories especially ones that are set in World War II and this is the one so-called “bio-pic” that has sunk the lowest and the makers and actors have spat in the faces of those who lost their lives and the relatives and friends of those lost ones during the attack. I think the fact that this is a Hollywood film also which makes it a weak film anyway.


Pearl Harbor is a classic tale of romance set during a war that complicates everything. It all starts when childhood friends Rafe and Danny become Army Air Corps pilots and meet Evelyn, a Navy nurse. Rafe falls head over heels and next thing you know Evelyn and Rafe are hooking up. Then Rafe volunteers to go fight in Britain and Evelyn and Danny get transferred to Pearl Harbor. While Rafe is off fighting everything gets completely whack and next thing you know everybody is in the middle of an air raid we now know as "Pearl Harbor."


Despite I still found it a tremendous disappointment to cinema and I am not a fan of Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett or even Kate Beckinsale that much, I was at least expecting the acting to be decent but it seriously failed miserable especially from Ben Affleck! A guy who seduces a girl and then leaves her to become a pilot because “he’s always dreamed it”? I could literally laugh at how pathetic that is. And how pathetic it really was with the poxy friendship too. I mean, I hated how they used a love triangle that wasn’t even real and just kept dragging on and on and on and that completely took over the attack itself! All three characters might as well have a threesome and get the hell out of this film because it really could have done so much better without all of them. Ok, I’ll admit that James Cameron’s Titanic had that with a fictional love story but that was a strong story and they actually got the historical facts correct alongside the fictional love story. The only real fact we got out of Pearl Harbor was there were bombs at Pearl Harbor by the so-called “Empire Of Japan” but there seriously had hardly any specific facts.


I have seen a few films made by Michael Bay even before I saw Pearl Harbor and I think the lowest he has even gone is with Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen and it wasn’t only until early March 2011 that he regretted the film and admitted it was crap! As for Pearl Harbor, he has officially sank down to the disaster level where Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen is and I do really hope he regrets this one deeply! For God’s sake, the attack on Pearl Harbor may have been in 1941 but despite that, people still talk about it now and, Michael, if you’re going to make a film about a very crucial event that happened in the world especially towards Americans (ohh yeah… you’re American yourself!), you need to be in the right state of mind to get the facts right! Michael, face it, you are a failure! You always have been and you always will be for eternity. Ok, what the FUCK was with the script?! I think this is the first script in a long time that I have listened to where I have literally shaken my head, sighed with shame and laughed at while watching it and it almost became quite painful! I hope if there will be another film about the attack where a director like Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood or even one of the great directors of this generation like Chris Nolan, David Fincher, Danny Boyle or someone else makes it, I would most certainly be there to see it! In fact, I dream of when that day comes!


Overall, Pearl Harbor is one of the most disappointing films of all time and it is really that simple. It’s not really like I wasn’t expecting at least a little bit of disappointment anyway but there you go. As I said, only the effects were the quality of this film and that is it! Well, I guess that is the best quality of pretty much every Michael Bay film. The best way of putting it is “big budget with small brains”. The last thing I can say in this review is that Michael Bay, Randall Wallace (screenwriter) and the majority of the actors should have been the ones who died in the attack rather than those heroes in the war who did.

"When friendship is real, which for the sake of a friend is ready for all that, too - one facet of love"

Pearl Harbor - Naval Station USA in the central Pacific Ocean, where the main forces of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. 's Attack on Dec. 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor, Japan launched the war in the Pacific. Fighting in the area of Pearl Harbor were part of Hawaiian operations of Japanese naval forces.

Two faithful friends. Rafe and Danny. From early childhood they were inseparable. Always together - and in sorrow and in joy. They really valued their strong friendship, strongly supporting each other in various stages of a life. Many lived through together, but more needs to be, because flares Second World War.

What can I say? The movie I just shook. Prior to the depths. Do not even know that I can feel such emotions throughout this movie and after it. Effect on browsing seemed penetrated into my heart and for some time, I simply lived with the main characters and their fates.

Roles of main characters Danny and Rafe played by Josh Hartnett and Ben Affleck. A brave and loving Rafe, in the performance Affleck is magnificent. But Danny, all such romantic, faithful and devoted to the iron will, not just words as well. After watching "Pearl Harbor" this hero has become one of my most favorite art images. Oh, and grace of this movie was wonderful Evelyn, in the performance of Kate Beckinsale. The standard of female beauty, both external and internal, so can be summarized character Beckinsale.

Michael Bay just a virtuoso in their field. Do not stop to admire his work. "Rock", "Island", viewed by me, left me indifferent. In "Pearl Harbor" all so organically and efficiently, really. Many dubbed this film "a nice-looking drama. Categorically disagrees with such statements. Romance line, certainly - one of the main story lines in the film, but the film is built not only on her. The film is closely related to real events. A lot of critics attacked the "Pearl Harbor" precisely because of some inconsistencies with history. It's certainly the case, but what if you think about? The film is a feature rather than a purely documentary, based no accurate facts. So, small blemishes can be justified.

Separately want to mention sound design movie. You can only say that the composer - and Hans Zimmer will have nothing to add. His music - a masterpiece of modern art. In this I was convinced of "the Rock" and "Pirates of the Caribbean". But in "Pearl Harbor" music has become one of the components of the film, is inextricably linked with the action of painting. Well, the reward for all that served golden statuette. Winning the nomination for an Oscar for "Best Editing Sound" - it already means something.

So in conclusion, after watching "Pearl Harbor" I am filled with emotion, with only positive. The film impressed me. I'm sure that for a long time in my memory is this beautiful drama. What is there to talk, if a month later after watching before my eyes is the final climactic scene. "Pearl Harbor" deservedly became one of my most favorite movies.

"We love that about whom we care." (C) Saint-Exupery.

Whoa.. what a disappointment. This is supposedly a successful blockbuster movie, but to me if was just a disaster. It's a long film.. about three hours. To me it was like two different movies; the first half was just a love story. An unconvincing love story involving Kate Beckinsale, Ben Afflek and Josh Hartnett. What do they expect viewers to think when this is advertised as an account of the Pearl Harbour bombings.. when the first half has almost nothing to do with it? I wouldn't be surprised If some people stop watching the movie during the first half.. it was just dull, boring, weak and unimpressive.

During the second half, however, it picked up speed producing the action movie that I was expecting to see. It still wasn't satisfying as you can imagine, watching one and a half hours of people frantically trying to survive the horrifying bombing of Pearl Harbour. For that last half of the movie we witness many people dying tragic deaths as well as hundreds of people suffering and being taken to the hospital for their last dying moments. It was horrible how this really happened, and yet even the ending, which was supposed to be, wasn't satisfying for me. They tried to show some light at the end, showing the characters a few years later, yet it just didn't do it for me..

For me it was obvious that Ben Afflek's character survived longer than the first half an hour. Why else would he be the main character? His acting was mediocre, apart from the death scene towards the end, he didn't really convince me. Josh Harnett was better, he wasn't amazing but certainly the best of the cast in my opinion. Kate Beckinsale was.. only just tolerable. I didn't like her or her character in this. That's just the honest truth.

It's probably too late for most people, I know that this was a success so many people have seen it.. and if you haven't maybe you should, it might give you a bit of an understanding of what happened at that time. If you can, I'll give you some advice - skip the first half.