Pearl Harbor

Screening Time: 184 minutes.
Media: Blu-Ray.

Michael Bay has a lot to answer for with regards to this film. Despite earning nearly $450 million in the US Box office, and thereby giving it the title of the sixth-highest earning film in 2001, "Pearl Harbor" has received so much flak in the way of reviews and critiques, it's been deemed as the second worst film of Michael Bay's movie career. Second. Not the first, but second. What was the first? It seems "Pearl Harbor" had some stiff competition against "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" only to lose out for the title.

Okay, here's the low-down. It's a war movie which is wrapped around a somewhat predictable love triangle. The problem here is that the movie is meant to reflect the real life events of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941; but in doing so it is filled with a number of inaccuracies, I won't go through the list as the Wikipedia article of the movie is considerably thorough. Needless to say, being based on a historical event as significant as the trigger that led the Americans to enter World War II against the Japanese, it's no wonder that Pearl Harbor attack survivors dismissed the film as "grossly inaccurate and pure Hollywood."

The concept of artistic license appears to be considerably stretched in terms of what happened, how it happened, where and with whom, et cetera; and I'll come to Bay's defense here, these changes were more than likely done to help improve the plot line of the film. While this'll not have been the perfect solution and despite the plethora of bad press and reviews it received, the film was simply this: a piece of fiction based on a real life event. And yes, it wasn't necessarily the best way to go about it, but the movie did make $450 million dollars, so there must have been something that deserved that kind of return.

Let's take for granted that yes, Michael Bay did push the limits of twisting the events of the attack of Pearl Harbor to suit the story line of the film. Let's look past what we can with respect to the actual war components and look beyond that to the interwoven love story, A difficult task for some, I know.

Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett play lifelong buddies who join the US Air Force. Kate Beckinsale plays Affleck's love interest... And then plays Hartnett's love interest... And then Affleck's again... After he supposedly returns from the dead after nearly getting killed in a mission with the British Royal Air Force fighting the Nazis...

The storyline is fairly predictable, and right now I don't rightly care about giving out the spoilers for this film: Boy meets girl, boy goes to fight Nazis, boy supposedly killed in action, boy's best friend comforts girl, boy's best friend and girl fall in love, boy comes back "from the dead", boy feels betrayed, boy and his best friend go to war against the Japanese after being attacked, boy's best friend dies after discovering girl is pregnant, boy and girl get back together and raise son named after dead best friend.

So let's see, a few clichés scattered in this film; the lifelong friendship, the love triangle, the betrayal and the consequent forgiveness, the naming of the kid after the dead friend... I always found that last one a little creepy... Oh, and let's not forget the somewhat hammy death scene of Hartnett's... I actually found myself asking these very words: "Are you f[CENSORED]king kidding me?" To see that particular scene was as painful as wiping my backside with sandpaper.

I have to confess I am very much divided as to how to rate this movie. Granted, there's the love story and the war, and the attacks and the special effects; but I have to say that I must lean towards a low rating... This movie was meant to reflect the historical account of the Pearl Harbor attacks, and as someone who recently visited the Pearl Harbor memorial site, and learned of the story first hand from footage and personal account from survivors from the attacks, it saddens me that a number of inaccuracies were made in the name of entertainment... It kinda sullies the historic value of what Pearl Harbor represents, kinda craps over it... And it's because of this that I award this film two stars for the effort.

Romeo Must Die

Running Time: 115 minutes.
Media: TV Broadcast.

I can't recall the first time I saw this film, but I know it wasn't at the cinemas. This film always had me confused... after all, how does one combine a romantic drama with martial arts? The closest thing I have come to this is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, another movie, I need to actually review some time in the near future, but even then, the two concepts of martial arts and romance, seem... well, polar opposites... You can imagine that in such a combination, a character would be inclined to say something like:

"I love you, and yet I also want to kick someone's ass to next Tuesday."

How does one make it work? Basically Jet Li plays Han Sing, who is serving time in a prison in Hong Kong, learns of his brother's death in America, and it's made apparent that there's something suspicious about it. He manages to escape and come to America where he comes across a plot between two warring families who are both business to gain prime real estate. The only thing is, one of the families is his own, headed by his father, Ch'u Sing, played by Henry O; the other is headed by Isak O'Day, played Delroy Lindo, whose daughter Trish, played by late singer and actress, Aaliyah is completely unaware of what's been happening. Supposedly the relationship between Han and Trish develops as the twists to this conspiracy are uncovered.

There is some comedy relief in the film with one of Isak's lackeys, Maurice, a rather rotund chap, played by Anthony Anderson, who has since made his mark in a more serious role in one of the thirty-seven million spin-offs of Law and Order. Russell Wong plays the part of Kai, a brother-type figure to Li's Han in this film. Wong looks like a very fit Asian (but less paranoid) equivalent of John Cusack, don't ask me why... The supposed "romance" (which I didn't really see to be perfectly honest) is intermittently spaced with a number of fight scenes between Li and various characters, with one where Li uses Aaliyah as a sort of conduit to fight a female assailant.

One of the things for which I have to give credit, though, is a number of scenes where the final blow for certain fight scenes is met with an X-ray view of how the death occurs whether it be a punctured torso or a broken neck... And although this effect is cool, when you strip the somewhat lame attempts at romance, and the somewhat predictable storyline, these effects seem to be the only saving point worth watching.

One thing I did read was that Han and Trish were supposed to have a kissing scene, in the film... which explains the title containing the Romeo reference, but this was met with some contempt from a pre-screening audiences. Jet Li stated on his personal website that they had filmed both versions of the scene (with kiss and without), and decided to use the one without instead because it would be "somewhat strange and awkward" for Han to have [SPOILER!!]witnessed his father's suicide and then to come out and kiss someone.

 All in all, the film is average with a number of great fight scenes, but the main plot and supposed love story between Li and Aaliyah are lost... This was a debut film for Jet Li for English-speaking films, and a debut for Aaliyah as an actress... I only am remorseful in knowing this was one of her only few films before her tragic death in 2001. Romeo Must Die gets a three star rating today...