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Pearl Harbor: 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition

Hollywood's timeline of epic films stretches back to the annuls of moviemaking, from timeless classics like "Lawrence of Arabia," "Ben-Hur," and "The Ten Commandments," to modern masterpieces such as "Braveheart," "Rob Roy," and the infamous "Titanic." With grand scale sets and special effects, talented actors and crew, big-budget status and studio backing, such movies are usually sure-fire winners. Moviegoers eat up these films, which almost always capture what is most important in an epic motion picture: the human emotion.

Add to this elongated list Michael Bay's "Pearl Harbor," one of the few epics that fails to register much depth of feeling in its long, drawn out story that runs over three hours long. Like its predecessors, particularly "Titanic," Bay's film also contains a love story set against an historical event steeped in the minds of millions of people who, until now, could only imagine the horror of what occurred on the "day of infamy." The recreation of these terrifying events is absolutely spellbinding, a collage of glorious special effects that bring to life one of the United States' most gripping tragedies, though the attempt to place the fictional love story as a centrifuge for emotional connection serves only to push us further away from embracing the film.

It may come as a surprise to many that the film's credits include screenwriter Randall Wallace, whose script for "Braveheart" earned him high marks. The question burning on everyone's lips (including mine), concerns how the material presented in this film can be so juvenile and trite, considering his past work. The story centers around two young men, Rafe (Ben Affleck) and Danny (Josh Hartnett), who grew up as friends and remain so in their military training as fighter pilots. During a health inspection, the two of them meet Evelyn (Kate Beckinsdale), a young nurse who falls instantly for Rafe, who does the usual routine of acting like a complete idiot because of his feelings.

As the story drones on, we begin to wonder if we will ever see what we have come to see: the promised bombing sequence of Pearl Harbor. Before this comes, we must watch as Rafe ventures off the England, is shot down and believed dead by Danny and Evelyn, who waste little time getting comfortable with one another. But Wallace's script also contains the age old cliche, "If you don't see them die, they're not dead." Rafe returns, is angered, and lashes out at his friend and lover, just in time for the bombs to start dropping around them.

And it is here that the movie reaches the point at which it becomes a completely wondrous film: from the first shots of Japanese zeros taking off from their carriers, to images of planes flying over civilians of Hawaii, Bay sets up the sequence with a tension that mounts higher and higher as we wait for the first bomb to drop. When it does, the film unleashes its power, recreating the attack sequence with visual and sound effects that are eye-popping and impacting. Ships bursting into flames like fireworks, the U.S.S. Arizona meeting its fate in the movie's most expensive shot, the U.S.S. Oklahoma rolling over as its sailors become trapped underneath and inside... this sequence of events captures the horrors of war as well as hitting an emotional high note that registers equal amounts of action and soul.

The film not only pays attention to the ships in the bay, but also to the airfields and hospitals and the mayhem surrounding them. As planes attempt to take off in a retalliation effort, only to be shot down, the realization of defeat hits home, and hits home hard. The hospital scenes, shot in soft focus, are forceful and moving, terrifying in their graphic nature and realistic in their depiction of the confusion that ruled over so many people in their efforts to save the wounded.

In effect, one could say that "Pearl Harbor" is all spectacle and no soul, which it is to a point. The attack sequence is brilliant, yes: this is what director Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer are good at, creating dazzling special effects that surround tepid, emotionally flat stories. The love triangle, which takes excessive amounts of turns and changes of interest between the those involved, rules over the majority of the film, its banal approach lacking any interest that would keep us satisfied until we reach what we have been waiting for. Actors Affleck, Hartnett, and Beckinsdale all have a great deal of charm, yet put together they have no chemistry or believable moments; they are better left apart, as displayed during the attack.

This focus on fiction clouds out the nonfictional aspects and characters of the story, such as the building suspicion held by Captain Thurman (Dan Aykroyd), who believes that Japanese peace talks are a cover for something larger. Aykroyd plays Thurman just as any actor in a dated war film, but with believability, as does Jon Voight, whose performance as Franklin Roosevelt is terrific. Cuba Gooding, Jr, who makes an appearance as Dorie Miller, the African-American cook aboard one of the fleet's vessels, barely has any screentime; these are the characters worth watching, if only there were more material that involved them. And for an event that marks defeat, the filmmakers seem determined to instill a sense of patriotism in audiences through a third act that focuses on the Doolittle raid on Tokyo, during which U.S. forces flew over the Japanese capital, destroying much of their munitions factories and military facilities. The catastrophic defeat at the Hawaiian naval base should end the film, yet instead, we are taken on another hour's worth of banality and ludicrous cliche, in which the people we guess will die do die, and everythings ends on a high note of victory and happiness. For one of the darkest chapters in our nation's history, this sure has an upbeat ring to it once the credits begin rolling.

Many will remember "Pearl Harbor" as being the big blockbuster that couldn't. There is grandeur in almost every aspect of its creation, yet the fictional contrivance fails to register any sense of emotional connection, and even overpowers what is good about film. Pyrotechnicians Bay and Bruckheimer have supplied us with a recreation as vivid and memorable as the event itself, but without any depth of feeling behind these characters, what good is the film as a whole?

Due to the addition of four different audio tracks for the actual film, there was no other choice but to place the movie on two discs. The second disc, in most cases, usually is reserved for the special features, and sometimes, a pan-and-scan version of the film. Here, this is not so, and the special features section of "Pearl Harbor" isn't as grand as one might initially think. Still, it manages to engage the viewer about the history of the event and the making of the movie, and that makes it a good, not great, DVD.

The featurette "Journey to the Screen" is an almost hour-long behind-the-scenes look at everything from the special effects to the historical inclusions of "Pearl Harbor." With a deluge of interviews from various cast and crew members and survivors of Pearl Harbor, this feature chronicles the movie's making, beginning with the creation of the story, the gathering of true accounts of December 7th, 1941, and the formulation of the film's central love story, which writer Wallace strongly believes provides an emotional connection to the nonfictional aspect of the film (has he actually watched the movie. From here, the feature takes us to director Michael Bay's playground of pyrotechnics and action setpieces, revealing the secrets behind various shots, such as the capsizing of the Oklahoma, which was done on a real set and later given digital creations to make it look even more realistic. From real explosions aboard real vessels, and airplanes made to look like those in 1941, the attack sequence in broken down to its barest essentials, at which point the wizards of Industrial Light and Magic created the visceral effects shots that were otherwise impossible to recreate in reality. Overall, this is a terrific featurette that provides insight into the making of the movie, focusing mainly on the attack sequence and its creation.

The History Channel documentary "Unsung Heroes" uses newsreel footage, vintage photographs, interviews with historians and survivors, and archival information to highlight the events of December 7th, 1941, while also paying a tribute to the heroes of the attack who took charge and fought back in the face of danger. the documentary provides a wealth of information surrounding the actual attack, and seeing it in the archival photos is a reminder that no special effect can ever truly capture the real moment in time.

Accompanying these featurettes is a preview of the National Geographic special "Beyond the Movie: Pearl Harbor," which, of course, is offered in a different edition of the film as a separate DVD for a higher price. Touchstone would do better to include this feature on this edition, rather than as a different disc altogether. And the theatrical trailers that are included on the disc are not the same ones that played in theaters: the music in the theatrical teaser has been changed from Hans Zimmer's beautiful "The Thin Red Line" score to music from the actual movie. For what purpose, I wonder. The theatrical trailer has also been altered, cut to its original music but given different footage and dialogue. Is there a point to this change?

Rounding out this edition is Faith Hill's "There You'll Be" music video, featuring Hill dolled up as a 40's damsel amidst flowing flags and clips of the movie (nothing really special), and a DVD-ROM feature that offers a timeline of the events of December 7th (why not make this accessible to those of us without DVD-ROM capability?). In short, this first release of "Pearl Harbor" will satisfy fans of the movie, while also making those of us who hunger for more special material eagerly awaiting the May 2002 release of the 3-disc Vista Series edition. --

Director Michael Bay shows a great deal of passion when discussing the making of "Pearl Harbor," but doesn't seem to have put much of that passion into the emotional core of the story. True, his stunning attack sequence is superbly mounted and breathlessly intense, and vividly creates the legendary "day of infamy" down to the last bullet, but his ineptitude in dealing with a banal love triangle from writer Randall Wallace, who takes a step down in his career, leaves us parched for more than just forty minutes of sheer visual and auditory brilliance. This DVD edition is standard at best, providing a nice look at the movie, but missing out on the bigger picture, which will hopefully be realized in the Vista Series release next year.