‘Pearl Harbor’ Is Powerful, Yet Accessible For All Ages

Often a movie can have an outstanding, attention-grabbing trailer but end up being a total dud as a feature film.  So after a while, one begins to cynically question whether the features for such dazzling previews can ever live up to their hype.  Such a movie that comes to mind is Pearl Harbor. This blockbuster-hopeful had a tremendously effective preview, from the FDR voice-over (“a date which will live in infamy”) to the powerful shot of Japanese fighter planes soaring stealthily, ominously over a sandlot baseball game. Oh yes, this was grand cinema, all in a two-minute package. But could Pearl Harbor deliver as a three-hour movie?

Despite nasty jabs from national critics, and the inarguable fact that it fails to consistently hit the high marks its trailer set, Pearl Harbor is worth seeing. Why? Well, it’s not nearly the event picture that Titanic was, and perhaps not even half the film of the superior From Here to Eternity, which covers much the same ground. But instead of damning the film for what it isn’t (especially considering Titanic won eleven Oscars and From Here to Eternity nabbed eight trophies), let’s consider what it is, or more specifically, what it has: a spectacular middle sequence, lasting approximately forty minutes, that viscerally conveys the December 7, 1941 assault on Pearl Harbor.

Director Michael Bay (Bad Boys, The Rock, Armageddon) may never be considered an auteur, but there is no denying his technical aplomb and ability to stage kinetically interesting set pieces. Here, he uses his aptitude for action scenes to nimble effect in crafting a riveting sequence that begins with the menacingly purposeful arrival of the Japanese planes and carries through to the “missile’s-eye view” of bombs dropped on aircraft carriers to the desperate plight of unsuspecting servicemen scrambling for their lives in the midst of unrelenting mayhem and destruction. Anyone familiar with the gruesome, yet gripping opening Normandy Beach sequence of Saving Private Ryan may gripe that Bay’s depiction of the horrors of war is suspiciously bloodless. However, it becomes clear that Bay’s intention is to communicate the horror and devastation of war without necessarily conveying the graphic carnage and gore also a part of warfare, all for the purpose of obtaining a PG-13 rating and keeping his film accessible to younger audiences that may have only cursory knowledge of events that helped propel the US into involvement in World War II.  Of course, the other, less altruistic reason for the PG-13 is to bring in more bucks at the box office. So, in pursuit of that goal, Pearl Harbor follows the Titanic blueprint by fashioning a love story set against the backdrop of a tragic, historical event.  But here is where Pearl Harbor goes awry.

While Bay may be a wizard at whiz-bang gimmickry, he’s not exactly your go-to guy when it comes to examining the human condition. Far be it for me to call anyone a hack – there’s much to be said for the ability to get a film, any film made (and for Bay to get one of this sheer magnitude ($140 million budget) done, well, there’s something to be said about that – but there’s no denying he’s not a subtle filmmaker. Rather, he’s the master of using a sledgehammer when a simple love tap might have sufficed. In terms of the romantic plot (two best friends/Navy pilots fall for the same girl), he doesn’t exactly botch it (though most of the thanks can go to his earnest performers, Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale and Josh Hartnett, all of whom do more with this material than they’ve a right to), but he nearly smothers it with overly cute encounters, melodramatic twists and occasional sappiness.

Surprisingly, he is not helped by screenwriter Randall Wallace  (Braveheart), who shamelessly helps layer some of this cheese while inexplicably failing to capture the more spirited, earthy tone of his previous work.

In any case, Pearl Harbor, rated PG-13 for intense action, violence, profanity and suggestiveness, rates as a must-see for its sheer size and spectacle, though one can’t help but feel such a somber, sobering moment as December 7, 1941 should be a little less Top Gun in its tone.