By: debbie lynn elias
December 7, 1941, the date on which the empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, isn’t the only day that will live in infamy. May 25, 2001, the release date of Pearl Harbor, the movie, will also not be long forgotten.
About the only thing that could save director Michael Bay’s version of the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, would be the dropping of an atomic bomb on this motion picture. Fraught with factual inaccuracies of this infamous historical event and an exceptionally poor script by Braveheart writer, Randall Wallace, Pearl Harbor falls flat. Despite breathtaking aerial bombing sequences, this film comes across as a poor man’s version of Top Gun-meets-Saving Private Ryan-meets-Titanic, proving once and for all that Michael Bay is neither Steven Spielberg nor James Cameron, and Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett are no Tom Cruise and Anthony Edwards.
Very loosely based on Army Air Corps pilots, Lt. Kenneth Taylor and Lt. George Welch, the movie opens with best friends, Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker (the latter of whom spends the entire movie tagging along behind McCawley like a lost puppy), “flying ” a wood and cardboard plane in the McCawley barn in 1920’s rural Tennessee, while they dream of becoming pilots. Cut to 1940 and we meet McCawley and Walker, played by Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett, respectively, as young men off to join the war. Of course, where there’s induction to the military, you find physical examinations and, you guessed it, nurses.
Needless to say, both men fall for the same nurse, Evelyn Stewart, respectably played by Kate Beckinsale, but wide-eyed Danny merely hangs in the shadows as his best friend Rafe gets the girl and then leaves for Europe “on loan” to the Royal Air Force as a fighter pilot, something which in actuality was not and could not be done without surrendering one’s commission in the U.S. military. And as we all know from many prior films which romanticized war, best friend left behind is asked to look after best girl. While Rafe is off shooting down Nazi planes, Danny and Evelyn both end up stationed in Pearl Harbor. After reports that Rafe has been killed, they, of course, s-l-o-w-l-y find comfort, solace and love, in each other’s arms, with a climactic encounter on the night of December 6, 1941. Knowing the Ben Affleck is the big name in this movie, should we buy into his reported early demise in the film? Probably not, although the death of the leading man, while startling, is becoming a more accepted tact since director Michael Bay honorably killed off Bruce Willis’ character in the blockbuster, Armageddon, after he saved the world, and Steven Spielberg felled Tom Hanks after he completed his mission in Saving Private Ryan. Besides, it’s not yet December 7, 1941.
Rafe, of course, comes back from the dead just in time for the break of dawn and the attack on Pearl Harbor. Bay has your adrenalin pumping with his aerial attack sequence, but poor dialogue at times brings titters of laughter during sombering scenes of death and destruction. Although visually triumphant due to the efforts of cinematographer John Schwartzman and those geniuses at Industrial Light and Magic, the viewer is still kept on the outside looking in as opposed to the 360 degree horror given us by Spielberg in Private Ryan, due to not only what appears to be the lack of hand held camera shots amid “the throws of battle,” but also the detachment and non-development of the characters throughout the script.
One of the best sequences of the film is the hospital triage during and after the bombing. Using what appears to be a wavering “cheesecloth” lighting effect and muted tones, we see and feel the surrealness of the entire morning as doctors and nurses try to stay afloat amid increasing carnage while the hospital itself is under attack by the Japanese. It is in these scenes where Kate Beckinsale finally shows some believable emotion and as a result, shines as Nurse Stewart.
Affleck’s arrogance and cockiness as Rafe, which worked well for him in Armageddon, comes across here as irritating and inappropriate. The only character more obnoxious and condescending, is that of General James “Jimmy” Doolittle as played by Alec Baldwin. Hartnett, who should have sported a more acceptable military haircut as opposed to one that had him constantly flipping hair from his face, although not heart-stopping or riveting, fits comfortably in his role as the mousey Danny. We do, however, see some outstanding work from Jon Voight as President Roosevelt and Tom Sizemore as mechanic Earl Sistern, who in reality did shoot down a Japanese plane with a shotgun during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Always a favorite, Sizemore gives us another memorable performance such as those in Private Ryan, Striking Distance and Passenger 57. Although brief (and I do mean brief – blink an eye and you’ll miss him), Cuba Gooding, Jr. as mess attendant Dorris “Dorrie” Miller, is gutsy and full of heart, bringing credibility and life to his limited role. In what is a seemingly token insertion of a character into the film by Bay, the real Miller was the first African-American decorated with a Navy Cross following his heroism in manning one of the machine guns on the USS West Virginia during the bombing, although never having been trained in its use. Interesting character turns are some of the Japanese admirals and captains who, although older, are easily recognizable to trained moviegoers from similar roles in Midway and Tora! Tora! Tora!
Unfortunately, Bay doesn’t conclude Pearl Harbor with Pearl Harbor. He presses the envelope and drags us onward to April 18, 1942 and the Doolittle-led aerial attack on Japan – obviously to increase Baldwin’s screen time and to resolve the still unresolved love triangle between Rafe, Danny and Evelyn. It’s just too much and too incredulous. Although Pearl Harbor will fill Disney’s coffers, it will fail to fill your heart or adequately honor those men and women who were Pearl Harbor.
