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Okay, I literally just got back from the theater, and I was very
pleasantly surprised with this film. “Pearl
Harbor” is by far Bay's best film. I
don't understand why so many think poorly of it. How
do you have to film about Pearl Harbor and have the bombing in the
very beginning? You
gotta set it up with some slow stuff. It
was slow in the beginning to show what the times were like. The
days leading up to the bombing in Hawaii were "slow
news" days, and the way to show that is to have a side story
in love. A story
about love shows a "slow news" day because stories about
love are everyday life, and everyday life is "slow
news". Some say
that the love story was cheesy and done before, but I agree with
Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post, when he said that it was
done deliberately to pay homage to the movies of that time. The
scenes of the bombing were done to perfection, and I mean that.
Bay really captured the surprise attack on Hawaii. The special effects were superb.
This movie is not another “Armageddon”.
The acting was
great as well. Let's
not leave that out. I had no idea that Alec Baldwin was in this!! He
was great! So were
Jon Voight and Cuba Gooding Jr (whose character was not dumb). Josh Hartnett (Virgin Suicides) stole the show. He
gave his best performance. Kate
Beckinsale is also great. I was surprised with Ben Affleck's
performance, because everyone was saying he was terrible. Please
tell me in what way was he terrible? And
I want SPECIFICS! Like
I said, Cuba Gooding Jr's character was not dumb, it wasn't used
enough, but then the movie would have been longer and you all
would complain about that. There should have been more story
around his character. Oh hell, I'll just say it: THE ACTING
WAS GREAT ALL AROUND!
The score. No,
not the Ed Norton flick, I'm talking about Hans Zimmer's music. Is
this guy a musical genius or what? He
didn't top “Gladiator” in this film, but he came awfully
close. He's definitely on my top 5 composers list. Probably top
3. Simply amazing.
Recommendation:
This is a great movie, with a great story, and cool effects. You will laugh. You
will cry, oh god will you cry. In
fact, if you don't cry, then I have to question whether you are
even alive. Whether
you are human, and most of all, whether you are an American.
So why doesn't PH get 4 stars? Because 4 stars
is a rating that I reserve for "the best of the best"
(not the movie....lol). This was certainly an
entertaining movie, and better than any other Bay film, but it's
not a movie that I would want to watch over and over again.
-- James
( 3 out of 4 pops )
Talk
about this film with other Popkorn Junkies |
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Other Junkie's
opinions.....
Pappy ( 3 out of 4 pops )
It’s pretty clear that the producers tried to use the
“Titanic” formula to try to develop a mega-hit.
The formula? Take a well known historical incident, add good special
effects and a romance. In
“Pearl Harbor” they actually went a step further and borrowed
the use of dramatic battle scenes such as in “Saving Private
Ryan.” Did the
formula work? Not
according to the box office and not according to me either.
It is a fairly good movie, but nowhere near great.
Surprisingly, though it is a romance, it has no heart.
I personally think that Ben Affleck is a terrible actor and
is not capable of making anyone care about him – even his
leading lady.
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