Pearl Harbor Movie Review by Wright Sublette
The Love Story and General overview
Pearl Harbor is the opening attack in World War two that brought America into the fight on the side of the Allies. That faithful morning sealed the fate for two nations and changed the face of the Pacific Ocean forever. From December 7, 1941 to September 2, 1945 America and Japan slugged it out in the most brutal naval, air and ground combat that had ever been waged across the vast Pacific Ocean.
Pearl Harbor is directors Jerry Bruckheimer newest mega project the stretched Disney purse strings considerably. The film is quite entertaining and at times draws emotions of patriotism. The love story is at times is rather over blown and is very contrived. I love a good love story, but the triangle really gets in the way after a while. I had a hard time just working up the motavation to write about the film for such a topic.
Director Michael Bay seem like he was trying to hard to apply Titantic’s love story to Pearl Harbor and upping the ante by having all three characters likeable, albeit with each with there own flaws. Ben Afleck and Josh Hartnett are decent choices for the leads, but the story its self falls short on delivering the love story that is set to the canvas of World War two. Ben doesn't shine up to his true potental during the film, for a much better showcase of his tallent, I recommend renting "Chaseing Amy." The first forty minutes of the really built the love story with quick flashes to the plotting of Japan’s attack planning and America trying to figure out what Japan was up to.
Kate Beckinsdale is well cast as the love interest. She is that classic beauty that is worth to go off and fight and survive wars for on the dream to one day to come home to. She has the look to rival Lana Turner or Rita Hayworth. She does the best she can with the script handed to her, but there were lots of moments where the film where I started to say to my self, alright lets get on with it!
The cenmaphotography is good at times and features Michael Bay’s romance with the extreme close-up and explosions of epic proportions.
Cuba Gooding Jr character is based Dorie Miller on a mess attendant assigned onboard USS West Virginia ( BB-48 ) When the West Virginia was hit the Captain and the Executive Officer were on the bridge and hurt by the attack. Miller went to the bridge and physically carried the
fatally wounded Captain to a first aid station and then manned a .50 caliber machine gun which he had not been trained on. For his action, he was awarded the Navy Cross. To learn more click here. http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq57-4.htm
Jon Voight portrayal as Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the amazing performance of the movie. The makeup convinced me that I was looking at the living 32nd President of the United States. Jon even sounded like FDR when he was delivering the famous December 8th speech that asked Congress in no uncertain terms to declared war on Japan and avange the dastardly and unprovoked attack.
The makeup department was also equally impressive for transforming Jon into FDR
Veteran Japanese actor Mako is perfect to play Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. The limited onscreen time that Mako has establishes Yamamoto brilliance and reluctance to go to war with America.
Pearl Harbor and Battleship Row
State of the art Computer animation or CGI has been raised another notch by this move. The first pan into Pearl Harbor showcases both the U.S Pacific Fleet and just how much CGI has grown expeontially in the last decade. The F/A-18 Hornet battles in Independence Day look primitive by the new standard set by Jerry Bruckheimer latest film project. During the combat, the audience viewpoint shifts between the CGI rendered battleships and the present day mothball ships stored in Pearl Harbor. USS Missouri (BB-63) and the USS Texas (BB-35) stand in for the entire battleline for the deck scenes. A huge amount of pyrotechnics are detonated on board mothballed Spruance class destroyers (DD-963 class) in some of the largest action sequences during the forty minutes of the attack.
Aerial combat and P-40s
When our daring young men finally take off in their flying machines to engage the attack force, this is really where the movie establishes its self at a bold, adventures old yen of actions. This was my favorte part of the movie.
The P-40 Tomahawk vs. Mitsubishi A6M Zero/Zeke duels over the besieged harbor show the difference between the two combatants. There is no way the P-40 can out run or out turn the Zero in an even match, so the pilots have to fight to the strengths of the P-40. The Zero is armed with 20mm cannons in the wings and 30 caliber guns in the nose. The A6M is built with extreme range and agility in mind but at the expense of armor for the pilot, and lacked self-sealing fuel tanks. This lack of protection meant that damage that would not endanger an American fighter would turn the zero into a fireball. Contrary to what one might think that the name “zero” was not a rude name given to the plane by the war department. The name Zero was accatually applied by the Japanese for the year of its introduction 1940 and year 2600 in their traditional calendar.
P-40
The six heavy browing M2 50 caliber machine guns firing a 720-grain projectile, usually consisting of armor piercing round made of molybdenum steel penetator raped in a brass jacket packs a lot of energy on impact. The ammunition would normally consist of three rounds of armor pearcing or AP and one tracer round. The 20mm cannons of the Zero have more punch but there are only two of them vs. the six 50 caliber machine guns.
The P-40 was build with ruggensness in mind with armor plate for the pilot and self-sealing fuel tanks, which was always characteristic for American fighters.
When the P-40s finally maneuver for an accurate shot the zeros are chopped to pieces by the heavy American guns. The exploites of the two lead characters actions on December 7th are modeled on the real life examples of Army Second lieutenants, George Welch and Kenneth Taylor to between them shot down eight enemy planes. Their P-40 were kept at Haleiwa, and really were strafed by a Zero enroute to mount up to do battle with the Japanese. Both pilots landed to refuel and rearm three times during the attack.
Stuff that I liked:
One subtle historic nod that I really liked was when FDR stands up from his wheel chair to make the December 8th “…a date that will live in infamy…” speech, the photographers paused for FDR to steady himself before they took photos. It was a different era, where it wasn’t considered proper to photograph FDR struggling to stand. Many Americans had no idea that FDR was crippled with out the use of his legs.
Jimmy Doolittle really did strapped Japanese metals to his bombs that he dropped during the raid over Tokyo.
One of the quotes used in the movie that is factual was spoken onboard the destroyer USS Monaghan by a deck seaman to Boatswain’s Mate Thomas Donahue “Hell, I didn’t even know they were sore at us.” – From page 71, of Day of Infamy by Walter Lord.
The USS Lexington ( CV-16 ) stood in for all the flight deck sequences for both Japanese and American carriers. Protraying the Japanese carriers( Kido Butai) with the bridge on the port side were the IJN Hiryu and IJN Akagi were the only two carriers were built in this configuration. This historal cliche' is frequently used in movies to protray Japanese carriers, when in fact only two were built to this confguration.
Stuff that annoyed me:
The training for Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle's raid was in Florida’s northwest panhandle at Hurlburt Field. The mountains of southern California surrounding the air base really annoyed me and completely distracted from realism of the scene. The Mitchell B-25B bombers that launched from the deck of Yorktown class carrier USS Hornet ( CV-8) did their attacks individually, not in a mass formation shown in the picture. All though I enjoyed the photographic beauty of a mass bomber formation, this is completely unaccurate. The film makes took a great deal of liberity with the facts where the Tokyo Raiders were concerned.
The Japanese were even more unprepraied for the attack then we were at Pearl Harbor. In most cases the B-25s droped their weapons and were long gone before the Japanese could even react, much less put up a flak barrage. The orgin of the attack was kept a secret for more then a year, refered only by "Shangri-La" by President Roosevelt. The launch carrer USS Hornet was lost during the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands and would not get to enjoy the fame after the war. One accaurate touch is the pilots ready room statis board had the correct numbers of the aircraft used in the raid.
Eglin and Hurlburt Air Force bases have been a bastion of American Military training and excellence for as long has the bases have been in operation and the film should have made some refrence to where the training took place.
For more information click here. The single bomb that destroyed the USS Arizona is shown pentrating into a projectle magazeen, knocking fourteen inch projectals off the bulkhead bouncing on the deck as if there were wine bottles. There is no way in hell that major calibur projectals would or could ever be stowed hozornally mounted to a bulkhead. Considering each projectiles weighs either 1500 or 2240 pounds, no working party of shell handlers could ever, in the heat of battle, break out ammo and load it onto the hoists to send up to the gun room to load the eleven MK8/4 and one MK8/5 main 14inch guns that arm the USS Arizona. The shells sit up right (as shown here onboard USS Alabama BB-60) on lightly oiled decks which allow the projectles to be danced on their sides to the hoist to send the warhead up to the guns.
The explosion that would had destroyed the ship would have been the powder popellent flats. The explosion that blew the Britsh Battlecruiser HMS Hood in two was most likely the aft power magazeens. This storage for the popellent for the main guns has always been the most dangerous part of arming a battleship. The effect of the Arizona being blown out of the water however was the most impressive image of the film.
The attack force that came to Hawaiian waters, four of the six carriers would be destroyed in the Battle of Midway (June 3 –6 th). Both of the escort battleships, IJN Hiei and IJN Kirishima were destroyed in combat at Guadalcanal, and ultimately the rest of the attack force was hunted down and sunk by the end of the war. America would send out our best long range fighter intercaptor, Lockeed P-38 Lighting to ambush a scheduled flight of Japanese transports killing Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
I went to to see the new moive wanted to enjoy it, but I came away feeling very unsatified and empty. Apon viewing Tora, Tora, Tora I came to understand that Pearl Harbor was compating aginst an impossable standard.
Historaly, when any nation decides to go to war with America it guarantees that we will come and bomb your capital, such as Tokyo, Berlin, Honi, Tripoli, and Baghdad. Let this be a reminder to any nation to who might have designs on attacking America what the repercussions will be. We will come and bomb your capital…. guaranteed.
I enjoyed the movie for what it is, big special effect laiden extransgvia with a attractive cast. The attack makes perfectally clear what the survivors, both mililtary and civilian endured. The distruction of the battleships in Pearl Harbor forced the navy to rely on the striking power of the aircraft carrier to take the fight to the enemy. Tora, Tora, Tora show the attack very accaturally and is highly recommended to rent and check out this awarding winning film. For the truly movtavated, watch Thrity Seconds of Tokyo and then Midway. To enjoy Pearl Harbor, I suggest that you watch Tora, Tora, Tora, up to the dawn launch sequence, then go about thiry to forty minutes late to Pearl Harbor, watch the attack and the aftermath then go home and watch 30 seconds over Tokyo. The love story over all was weak and contrived and placed the audience in the strange position of rooting for the Japanese to bomb Pearl Harbor so we could see what we all really went to see the movie for, the attack! For accaurate film making about World War Two, it should be left to the professionals such as Richard Fleischer and Stephen Spelburg. See you at the movies! - Wright Sublette BACK to Washington Navy Yard