PEARL HARBOR

US, 2001, 183 minutes, Colour.
Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, William Lee Scott, Ewen Bremner, Alec Baldwin, Jaime King, Catherine Kellner, Jennifer Garner, John Voight, Cuba Gooding Jr, Michael Shannon, Matthew Davis, Mako, Carey- Hiroyuki Tagawa, Colm Feore, Dan Aykroyd, William Fichtner, Scott Wilson, Graham Beckel, Peter Firth, Tom Sizemore, Beth Grant, Kim Coates, Erich Christian Olsen.
Directed by Michael Bay.

One of the peculiar aspects of publicising big and expensive films like Pearl Harbor is the hostility that they rouse in some movie journalists, especially journalistic hacks who don't know their films who love nothing better than to cut down high flyers. This is generally sight unseen but it makes sensationalist copy. The onslaught against Pearl Harbor in the weeks preceding its release prophesied that it was a bigger bomb than any dropped sixty years ago. The critics were not kind - which seemed to prove their point. However, on its opening weekend in the United States it grossed over $75.000.000. So, what can one say about the three-hour blockbuster?

The first thing to say is that was not intended by its makers to be a masterpiece of classic cinema and to judge it as if it were would be like criticising a best-seller as if it were a work of literature. Pearl Harbor is a movie best-seller. So was Titanic - which might be a fairer comparison. In that competition, Titanic would win. But, the appeal to the popular audience is the same.

The core of the film is a historical event. The war in Europe had been waged for over two years (1939-1941) before the Japanese attack on the US fleet in Hawaii. President Roosevelt was urging assistance for Europe. However, many expected that the Japanese would declare war. The US had blocked their oil supplies. Japanese ambition was in terms of establishing empire. The strategy was to destroy American shipping in a surprise attack. The Americans were not ready for it and the destruction and loss of life was disastrous. December 7th, 1941. America entered the war.

The second hour dramatises the attack with the all the power of special effects and exciting, split-second editing. This is what makes the film worth seeing, although non-Americans might find some of the heroics a bit too ra-ra. But, after all it is their film. The third hour also has many exciting moments as a special squad is trained for the retaliation bombing on Tokyo in the Doolittle raids.

It is mainly in the first hour that audiences might become a bit restive. The makers have decided to set the attack in the context of a love story. While this worked with Titanic, it is far less successful here. Much of the dialogue sounds romantically corny. Ben Affleck is rather too square-jawed and unexpressive. Kate Beckinsale is quite charming and Josh Hartnett is a good actor.

Director Michael Bay, with a commercial and music video background, is best-known for action and more action: Bad Boys, The Rock, Armageddon, rather than human interest stories. Randall Wallace, who wrote the screenplay, has much the same talent: Braveheart and The Man in the Iron Mask.

Why a re-creation of Pearl Harbour at the moment? The box-office success of Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line? A call to US patriotism? Warnings (according to a friend of mine) that Star Wars defence is needed so that the US is never attacked unaware and unprepared - or is that too much of a conspiracy theory?

1. Big box-office, popular entertainment? Yet the critics saying it was one of the worst films, bloggers agreeing?

2. Michael Bay, his reputation, big films, trashy, romantic, corny, spectacular?

3. The technical aspects of the film: the photography, aerial combat, recreation of 1923 and flying, 1941 and flying, World War II, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the aftermath, the Doolittle pursuit, RAF and the war involvement?

4. The effect of the editing, the special effects, sound engineering, the musical score?

5. The impact for American audiences, patriotic, knowledge of the history? For non-American audiences? Japanese? 60 years after the event?

6. The presentation of history, accuracies and inaccuracies, plausibility of aspects of the plot, especially the details of the training and the Doolittle pursuit?

7. Audience knowledge of America pre-war, the status of Pearl Harbor, the Pacific Fleet, the attack? The reconstruction of the events? The imagination?

8. The film detailing the background of the Japanese in the 1930s, ambitions, invasions, especially of China? Peace talks? Americans preventing oil distribution in Japan? Dreams of empire? The admirals, the discussion, declaration of war, the decisions, the choice of Pearl Harbor? The meetings and discussions, the study, the spies in photos, the code messages and the Americans trying to decode, the position of the Navy, the secrecy, the launch of the planes, Japanese deceit?

9. The US, the 1930s, the Pacific Fleet, the role of the Navy, Pearl Harbor as safe, distance, the ships, the planes close together for protection? Roosevelt, diplomacy? The discussions amongst the experts, the code breaker and his speculations, the admirals and their sense of realism? The American meetings? The Admiral in Pearl Harbor?

10. The strike, surprise, the sinking of the Arizona, the torpedoes modified for shallow water, the vast explosions, the destruction of the men, the difficulties in response, the attempts to shoot the planes, the men trapped underwater, the devastation at the hospital, the attack on the airfield? The American planes trying to fight back?

11. The personalised background in focus? Rafe and Danny, 1923, flight, crop dusting, their friends, bond, parents, families?

12. 1941, the meeting with Doolittle, the discussions, his tough attitudes, rape and the request to go to England, for the RAF, his volunteering?

13. Rafe and Danny as friends? Rafe wanting to protect Danny? Social outings, the meeting with Evelyn? Evelyn and her telling the story to her friends, the flashbacks?

14. The medical examinations, the jokes and jabs, Rafe, attracted to Evelyn, talking with her, the eye examination, his difficulties, his plea to her, her passing him? The double jab and his collapse, broken nose? Going out with Evelyn, falling in love, the truth about his going overseas, the episode at the Queen Mary, her sadness?

15. The detail of the nurses, friendships, work at the hospital, Evelyn in charge?

16. England, the British pilots, Rafe in action, camaraderie, shot down, the rescue?

17. Danny and Evelyn, sad, consoling each other, love, the sexual encounter? The shock of Rafe’s return, his being hurt, the fight with Danny? The resolution and their fighting on December 7? The frank talks between the two, Evelyn and her love for Danny, for Rafe, her pregnancy?

18. Rafe and Danny, the morning of the attack, in the car, driving, help at the airfield, desperate, the authorities at the airfield, advice, the defence, the tower and shooting?

19. The characters of those they worked with, their personalities, Gooz, Anthony, Red, Billy, and Joe? Life and death? On the Doolittle mission?

20. The hospital, the dying, Evelyn and her lipstick marking the men M for morphine? The black cook, his wanting to be in action, the attack and his response, his later decoration?

21. The priest, the absolutions – and the scene of the priest, vested, standing waist high in the water and giving blessings to the dead men in the water?

22. President Roosevelt, his famous speech about infamy and declaration of war and the applause? His meeting with the authorities, not brooking any
impossibility, his efforts to stand, his demands? The man with the idea of the attack on Japan?

23. Doolittle, selecting the men, the interview with Rafe and Danny, the details of the training, secrecy, their volunteering, the risks, his going?

24. The soldier Evelyn tended, her request, going to headquarters, listening to the news?

25. Doolittle at sea, the approach of the Japanese, the anticipation of the mission, the going, bombing the Japanese factories, the Japanese defence, the limitations of fuel, over the sea, land looming, the crashes, the Japanese squads? Danny and his defending Rafe and his men? Their being captured, Danny
with the crossbar? The guns, shooting, Danny’s death?

26. The return, Evelyn waiting, Danny’s coffin, Evelyn and Rafe, grief and love?

27. The end of the war, the effect of the war, the experience of defeat, retaliation, enlivening the American spirit?