Pearl Harbor is what Titanic could've been if Michael Bay directed it, cause the similarities are very, well, similar. This one is set during a tragedy, the attack on Pearl Harbor in this case. There's also a love triangle, a very sappy one indeed.
My main issue of the movie is well, the love story. It doesn't serve much in a wider context and feels rote and cheesy, it takes up most of the bloated runtime but there's a satisfying conclusion to it at the end. I must say, I wished the script was more focused on the relationship between the Navy's rather than this, it just screams Titanic to me. Other than that I didn't really have much of an issue with the movie besides the laughable script which I had a chuckle from. The cinematography is crisp and wonderful. The performances weren't half-assed unlike other Bay efforts but Ben Affleck was especially wooden here, as wooden as a log. Josh Hartnett fares better here and I found him more interesting. The action sequences here were mostly positives, there were shaky-cam scenes that were distracting but for the most part, it's typical Michael Bay explosions, its fun explosions especially at the attack on Pearl Harbor, the movies' centerpiece and also its biggest strength. It's a forty-minute extravaganza of special effects and signature Michael Bay firework-explosions. It made the movie for me.
Im no historian but I found the Japanese reasoning to attack Pearl Harbor especially odd. The context here is that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because America cut its oil supply. I kept asking myself, would attacking them make the situation better? Does it perhaps, restore the fuel sources?? I don't know, movie never says.
Overall, this movie was serviceable, I didn't hate it to the point where I'd start ranting nor did I love it to the point of being infatuated with it. By all means, its decent. Should've focused more on the Navy instead of that goddamn trite love story, the more I talk about it the less I appreciate it. Check it out, especially for the forty-minute sequence.
My main issue of the movie is well, the love story. It doesn't serve much in a wider context and feels rote and cheesy, it takes up most of the bloated runtime but there's a satisfying conclusion to it at the end. I must say, I wished the script was more focused on the relationship between the Navy's rather than this, it just screams Titanic to me. Other than that I didn't really have much of an issue with the movie besides the laughable script which I had a chuckle from. The cinematography is crisp and wonderful. The performances weren't half-assed unlike other Bay efforts but Ben Affleck was especially wooden here, as wooden as a log. Josh Hartnett fares better here and I found him more interesting. The action sequences here were mostly positives, there were shaky-cam scenes that were distracting but for the most part, it's typical Michael Bay explosions, its fun explosions especially at the attack on Pearl Harbor, the movies' centerpiece and also its biggest strength. It's a forty-minute extravaganza of special effects and signature Michael Bay firework-explosions. It made the movie for me.
Im no historian but I found the Japanese reasoning to attack Pearl Harbor especially odd. The context here is that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because America cut its oil supply. I kept asking myself, would attacking them make the situation better? Does it perhaps, restore the fuel sources?? I don't know, movie never says.
Overall, this movie was serviceable, I didn't hate it to the point where I'd start ranting nor did I love it to the point of being infatuated with it. By all means, its decent. Should've focused more on the Navy instead of that goddamn trite love story, the more I talk about it the less I appreciate it. Check it out, especially for the forty-minute sequence.