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.

K-19: The Widowmaker

Running Time: 138 minutes.
Media: DVD.

I'm always a little anxious when I come across a film whereby well-known actors are cast in roles where accents are generally required... Such is the quandy I find myself in now, whilst watching K-19: The Widowmaker, a war film that stars two legends (in my personal opinion), Liam Neeson, a seasoned Irish actor; and Harrison Ford, also a seasoned actor, hailing from Chicago, Illinois. To hear these two men converse with their Russian accents reminds me of a classic quote from Raphael from the 80's cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

"He's not only from an alternate dimension, but also ancient Japan. So naturally, he speaks English." 

Don't get me wrong here, K-19 is an excellent movie, but the audience needs to look past the occasional accent-related glitch that may arise when you hear both Neeson and Ford talking. The accents slip in and out sporadically, but after a while you do become desensitized to it and you're able to focus more on the plot. I had a similar problem regarding accents in Valkyrie but not at the start of the film when I heard Tom Cruise deliver the prologue in flawless German; but when I heard many a British or American actor playing the role of a German speak in English accents... I guess I'm a stickler for the want of a bit of realism without requiring a leap of faith... or an atlas, to figure out where exactly I am.

The story unfolds in the early 1960's where the K-19, Russia's flagship nuclear submarine has been launched, headed by Captain Alexei Vostrikov, played by Ford. His XO, Mikhail Polenin, is played by none other than Neeson. Naturally these two come to blows about all sorts of crap, whilst still sharing unwavering patriotism for Mother Russia.

The s[CENSORED]t hits the proverbial fan when the submarine is reaching American waters only to find that the vessel's nuclear reactor system is leaking, which is a threat to not only those on board but also the missiles on board.

Harrison Ford provides some humorous food for thought around 13 minutes in, when he says:

"...No sailors have been given such a boat as K-19. It is the finest submarine in the world..."

Given the circumstances that follow makes me wonder, if the K-19 was the finest submarine in the world known in Russia, can you imagine what the worst Russian submarine would have been like? Probably would have been a dead-set lemon in comparison... Sailors would have to get out and push, brakes would have gotten stuck now and again and you'd probably would have to get in and out through the windows because the doors were stuck like it was some huge marine equivalent of the General Lee. But I digress...

The film plays well from start to finish, and as the casting of mainstream actors for the movie was limited mainly to the two opposing officers, the film was kept well grounded from the start. K-19: The Widowmaker receives four stars, given the intermittent accent issues from Neeson and Ford, but despite this I know I'll be enjoying this film now and again for years to come.