Movie Night: Pearl Harbour (This thread had better not have already been done!)

[Guest Commander Hamblin]

I already did a search, couldn't find anything...BUT, if it has been done...oh well, tough, here are my opinions on it anyway.

***Warning - spoilers for Pearl Harbour up ahead.***

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

***Warning - The following is my opinion, and my opinion only. See the movie for yourselves if you want to form your own opinions of it.***

1) It was disjointed, sort of upsy-downsy, for me. There were scenes I absolutely loved, and scenes I absolutely loathed, and they were right next to each other, so I could never really get a feel for it.

2) I do not like Pearl Harbour not because it's a love story, but because it's a bad love story. I don't mind romance in my films. I just don't like it when they're badly done. And this was a badly done love story. The setting was all wrong, for one (Which means, I suppose, I also don't like Pearl Harbour because it's a love story...go figure).

I mean, to make the damned thing work, you had to stretch your imagination pretty thin. Chances are, if you were killed in the Second World War, then you were killed in the Second World War, not you survived, lived three months in occupied France, then miraculously escaped. I mean, they didn't even explain that, how the hell would an American pilot survive in occupied France?

Furthermore, it had no direction. With Titanic, for example, the love story was straightforward (I'm not saying Titanic was a good movie either, just using it as an example). You could see where it was going right from the beginning to the end. With this, it was topsy turvy - you needed a degree in rocket science just to figure out how the hell they resolved that whole love triangle thing when Ben Affleck came back alive. I can't even remember most of it now, how the hell did they resolve that anyway? They just argued for what must've been half an hour's worth of the movie, then somehow Ben Affleck becomes a father at the end. I forgot the rest in between.

I also couldn't empathise with any of the characters. Maybe it was their typical TV/Movie good looks (Or perhaps that's my own jealousy talking? ), or the situation they found themselves in (Which I had a hard trouble believing myself). I mean, I didn't really feel sorry for Ben Affleck's character, I didn't feel sorry for...his best friend, and their love interest (I can't even remember the actor's names now, lol!), I didn't feel anything for any of them whatsoever. That guy who couldn't speak properly, he didn't even make me laugh. Which reminds me of another thing. The jokes were flat, and didn't work!

I've no need to explain THAT further, but getting back to the characters, when that guy who couldn't speak came rushing in to warn them about the Japanese, you'd THINK that in a crisis he would be able to say the word "JAPANESE!" as loudly and as clearly as possible! The fact that he couldn't didn't make me laugh, it made me wonder what the hell the script writers were on when they thought that a person wouldn't be able to simply shout and scream a single word at the top of his voice in a crisis. He didn't even make any move to shake his comrades, wake them up or anything, he just stood there, jumping around like a lemon, trying to say a single word!

When I saw his fianc├® being carried by some guy, I didn't feel sorry for him, or her. I didn't feel anything except boredom. When he was trying to propose - again, another joke that fell flat. I could go on and on, but I won't.

3) The attack on Pearl Harbour itself...gah, real ships? That REALLY stopped me from relaxing into that attack. With any other war movie, I can just watch the battle scenes, relax, take in the horror of it all, think to myself what a terrible thing war is, yaddy yaddy yadda...with this, all I did was notice where they used real ships in real scenes. And not just during the attack, throughout the whole movie. I lost count at somewhere around over two dozen scenes, some no more than a second, others maybe five to ten seconds in length.

I remember seeing, clearly, the DD 990 Ingersoll, when that Japanese guy was taking pictures of the Harbour. I also remember seeing the DD 986 Harry W. Hill getting blown up at one point (Or, as I heard someone mention, staying completely intact, while things blew up on top of it).

I can understand maybe one or two scenes that last a few seconds, but Jesus Christ, over two dozen?! I saw FF 1062 Whipple two or three times (Remember the boxing match? It was clearly seen there, as the camera was sort of descending on the match). I saw those Newport class LST's there as well, and probably some other Amphibious or Auxilliary ships I just couldn't identify. *shakes head*

4) The unrealistic scenes weren't limited to real life ships. There were some scenes I just couldn't stand, because they obviously never happened. For instance, the Cook who was with the Captain of the West Virginia when he died (The same one who took up the AA gun). I know he really did take up that AA gun, and I can understand that. But was he really also there to see the death of his Captain, to see the guy (In classic, heroic tradition) still giving orders to his loyal crew, while death grasped at him, and the cook telling him "It's alright Captain, everyone is where they're meant to be. You trained us well.", right before he then dies? Jesus Christ, talk about Hammy.

I mean, seriously, there were some scenes which made me downright laugh! I had to hold back, so I didn't start laughing out loud, and ruining it for the other people in the cinema! The above scene was one of them. There were a number of others, which I can't remember at the moment, but they were there.

I didn't like that. If I watch a war movie, the only time I want to laugh, is if a character makes a joke. I don't want to laugh as they show me scenes of horror and destruction. That's how bad Pearl Harbour was, for me. They showed corny, laugh out loud, obviously fabricated scenes, in the middle of something that's supposed to make you reflect, look inside yourself, and maybe even mourn for those who died at the real battle they're depicting. Not resist the urge to laugh.

Though, as I said earlier, I did enjoy some parts of the movie, so, here they are.

I loved the scenes with the Japanese. The Imperial music (Slightly evil sounding, I will admit, but great music nonetheless), the regimentation, the philosophical way in which Admiral Yamamoto spoke, the manner in which they carried themselves...I honestly didn't expect that from this movie. I thought they'd either keep the scenes with the Japanese to a minimum, or not show them at all. They really showed them as a people with honour, and dignity. When I saw them running out to their planes, I thought "At least these people have faith in something".

So, that made me start thinking about faith. These people have faith in their nation, their leader, their cause. Despite how wrong we may have seen it, these people had something to give their life meaning. And honestly, it really made me admire them far more than the overly-patriotic flag waving seen from the American side in the aftermath of the attack.

Which was good, I like to have a movie spur on my thoughts to something bigger, rather than just bathe me in action and special effects (Unless the movie is specifically about that, and isn't afraid to admit it - in which case, I come in watching it in a different mindset. I'm just there to enjoy myself with the action and the explosions, that's it. Same goes for if it's anything else, ie, comedy. I come in to the cinema in a different mindset).

The scenes with President Roosevelt, too, were great. I don't think I need to explain why.

As a Brit, I must say, I absolutely loved the Battle of Britain scenes. I don't know why, but when Ben Affleck first arrived in Britain, it did that corny black and white narration thing, and it showed the desperation of the British pilots on the ground...I dunno, I was spurred into one of those rare moments of patriotism I get every now and again. But, then again, that's just me. The rest of the Battle of Britain was alright, though, mainly 'cos I wouldn't notice any historical innaccuracies.

The bits with Naval intelligence were alright as well. Don't ask me why, maybe it's Dan Akroyd's (sp?) acting that did it.

The boxing scene, I liked, for some reason. It made me want to enlist in the Navy...don't ask me why, it's probably a subconscious US Navy recruitment campaign. (Not that they'd need any recruitment campaign to get ME to join up, hehe...if I were American, and twenty years younger).

Right, I think that's all the stuff I liked about it...oh, and one more thing. The huge explosions, even if they were placed side by side with the bad scenes I mentioned above, were great. Seeing the crewmen running around on the ships - that was great. I don't know if that cook really did shoot down a Japanese plane, but when he got up and started shooting them - that was great, merely for the fact that it really happened.

[ 07-08-2001: Message edited by: Commander Hamblin ]

[Menchise]

quote:

---

The bits with Naval intelligence were alright as well. Don't ask me why, maybe it's

Dan Akroyd's (sp?) acting that did it.

---

The correct spelling is Dan Aykroyd (believe it or not ).

[Guest Mikel]

Pearl Harbor...some time that would've been better spent watching Tora! Tora! Tora! (Which I did later