Hey folks, Harry here. Ya know, as you sit down this holiday weekend and you find yourself in a theater watching THE PATRIOT and you see this trailer and you see MICHAEL BAY's name, and that impulse to scream something about him being satan pinches your ass... After you have finished watching THE PATRIOT which is easily the best Revolutionary War film ever made... and you have that weird geek conflict boiling inside of you. Still being pissed about the way you feel about Emmerich and Devlin from ID4 and GODZILLA... and yet you find yourself feeling strange love for THE PATRIOT.... realize that you will most likely be feeling exactly like this again next year when you sit... possibly in that same theater seat watching Michael Bay's PEARL HARBOR.... and then you will remember... I told you so.
Hope you might enjoy this. Everyone get to see it with THE PATRIOT on Wednesday, but for those who can't wait ...
PEARL HARBOR -- TRAILER 2 FULL DESCRIPTION
(2:12 running time, 2:35 ratio)
Trailer plays over moody (unidentified) source music ---
FADE IN as
THE CAMERA RUSHES PAST WAVES tinted dark orange and red, breaking over each other
DARK WAVES as a WHITE "A," "U" and "O"pull back into the following phrase --
SUPER: IT WAS A SUNDAY MORNING...
THE DARK WAVES again, fading into
A MAN in his lawn chair, reading the morning papers expansive green backyard and harbor in b.g.
THE DARK WAVES again, fading into
TWO LOVERS frolic under and on the sea's surface, arms wrapped around each other (this may be the Harnett and Beckinsdale characters, but you can't really tell)
THE DARK WAVES again, fading into
THREE LITTLE GIRLS dressed in angel costumes, run happily past a SANTA statue in extreme foreground --
THE DARK WAVES again, fading into
SAILORS on a battleship deck, morning reverlie, all standing at attention
THE DARK WAVES again, fading into
A BOY IN A TANKTOP AND HAT on a baseball field, winds ups and throws his pitch. PAN with his throw to reveal a pack of Zeros heading in the same directions as the ball, low to the ground. The boy stares awestruck at the sight, as --
A WOMAN hanging her laundry on an outside line, ducks as a Zero practically zooms right above her --
TWO BOYS look upwards to an unseen sight, as --
A WIDER SHOT OF ABOVE tracks a large formation of Zeros as they pass by the boys, framed by the lush mountains in the background.
OVERHEAD ANGLE of three Zeros rushing over water --
CLOSE UP of same, only one plane, Japanese insignia clearly visible on the wing
WIDE AERIAL SHOT of the entire island, surrounded by clouds. CAMERA pulling backwards as hundreds of (CG) Zeros head towards the island, coasting past the camera --
SOUND RECORDING of Roosevelt's "Today is a day that will live in infamy" quote plays.
BLACKNESS, then:
A ZERO dives between a battleship's guns --
A LARGE GREY EXPLOSION by a red cross van and palm trees --
MEN in a gun nest, firing at oncoming planes --
A PACK OF ZEROS diving, as one enters frame extreme foreground --
MEN on the ground, shooting, yelling --
MORE SHIPS exploding
MEN ON SHIP DECK ducking as Zeros fly right by them --
A HUGE EXPLOSION between two ships --
WIDE AERIAL SHOT of Zeros passing an exploding ship far below
BEN AFFLECK on the tarmac with a gun in hand, waving men on in a state of panic --
SUPER: BEN AFFLECK
A CONVERTIBLE racing in front of 4 diving Zeros
A PRIEST giving last rites on the deck of a ruined ship, dozens of dead and dying around him
ANOTHER DIVING ZERO ghosted over shot of men in the water
CUBA GOODING (from behind) firing the anti--aircraft gun at the Zeros, huge explosions in the b.g.
CLOSE UP (front angle) of same scene, Cuba screaming with rage, shells shooting out of the gun all around him, --
ZEROS angling through a smoke plume from a sinking ship
SMOKE blotting out the sun
TITLE -- ORANGE-GOLD LETTERING over BLACK
FROM JERRY BRUCKHEIMER AND MICHAEL BAY
GLORY SHOT -- of the thick black smoke, sinking ships barely visible at the bottom of the frame, smoke blackening out the fading purple sunlight. Very moody shot.
TITLE CREDIT fades in, image fades out:
PEARL HARBOR
MEMORIAL DAY 2001
Main cast and crew listing. ILM gets main visual effects credit.
---
Overall, not the best trailer ever made, but not as stereotypical as I might have suspected from Bay. Tone felt like the full PRIVATE RYAN trailer (complete with the same altered shutter speed explosions to slow down the action). Those who have seen TORA TORA TORA will recognize similar shots, slightly improved.
Still, it sold the film fairly well. We'll see....
-- THE INSOMINAC
