Hey folks, Harry here... Project Rage seems really quite disappointed in PEARL HARBOR... you see, it seems Project Rage is a Michael Bay fan, but this film let him down. What does this mean? Well it could mean that Jeffrey Wells and Moriarty will love PEARL HARBOR and that I could Hate it. Or it could mean that everyone will love the action but be disappointed by the film. Or this guy could be a loon and we'll all love the film. Or he's not being hard enough on the film and it blows like Moriarty after the glass teet... Only time will tell (and not much time at that)
Pearl Harbor
I am Project Rage
First of all, I pray to the gods that Hallenbeck could come out of retirement and critique this film.
Second I pray that Bay and Bruckheimer drastically re-edit this film. This was the finished print. But I hope they could cut the film after it comes out, like 2001 did years ago. It needs it so bad.
But alas no fruitation will come of this.
This movie has always been a sure deal in an ideal executive's mind; it was probably sold on the aspect that it's a "Titanic meets Saving Private Ryan" story. It has the love story of Titanic and the uncomfortable grit of reality of Private Ryan. With this concoction mixed with the special fx of ILM, directing by Bay, produced by Bruckheimer and the teenage girl lust for Hartnett and Ben Affleck, you would think that this film is a sure win.
I'm a huge admirer of the above films and also everything of Michael Bay's. So to watch this film spin out of control was off putting. In the Armageddon DVD it was mentioned by Jerry Bruckheimer that Michael Bay has a deft styling to direct a film that would appeal to a younger 13 year old style audience and his kid like quality is what carries him. Some would argue this. This movie lacked this magical wonderment quality and tried to appeal more to a younger woman crowd. The fist half of the movie is set up to care about the characters, this is where the damage to the film was made, to me I didn't care about the characters, I felt detached. Originally the film was to start off with Affleck and Hartnett being brothers and falling for the same girl. Then it was changed to them just being good friends lusting for the same girl. For some reason the creative team thought it was too redneckish (they speak sort-of southern), though I disagree and I believe this is what damaged the film. At the end the original idea would have brought closure to this relationship to the end. It's like deleting the brother aspect in the film Legends of the fall. It's insane.
Like titanic the first half of this movie is all a slow love story, then to juxtapose it turns into a disaster film. The major battle doesn't start till an hour into it. And I felt like I was waiting for the real film to start. Ben Afflecks subplot to Europe is horrible and when he reappears it feels trite and soap-opera-ish. Another annoying thing is the constant homages; In Armageddon this aspect made it fun, but the seriousness of this film made it feel just ripped-off. There was so many,
1.Titanic (especially)
2. Armageddon
3.Thin Red line
4 Blair witch
5. Top Gun
The list goes on and on, but this felt so annoying. Especially the love scene from in the Parachute room, just like titanic's sex in the car. It made my eyes roll. Then there's a soldier with a speech impediment, which was suppose to be comic relief, his speech impediment sounded so weird, that it sounded like he was farting. I don't know why, but it was so weird. He was as annoying as a jar-jar binks. Kate Backinsale rocked as always, and her scene where she decides, who's dead and who needs medical attention after the infamous battle. She's pretty cool, and the use of her lipstick was brilliant.
The supporting characters in this film are great.
1. Dan Aykroyd (I think he's sucked lately, but he was great in this little part.)
2. William Fichtner as the abusive dad in the beginning. (overacting like a mutha) Brilliant.
3. Cuba was great! Real low-key When he's told by the captain, that he was the pride of the ship. Cuba's smile. great scene.
4. John Voight as FDR, great work! The makeup on him was phenomenal. The man has a huge doublechin.
5. Tom Sizemore was mediocre. Him firing at the sky with the shotgun, I just wish there was more of him.
6. A guy named "Goose" (homage to Top Gun); he was hilarious pilot, with a very dry sense of humor.
7. Mortal Kombat- Rising sun-Japanese-guy. He's great as one of the captains of the raid on Pearl Harbor. Always great to see him.
8. Alec Baldwin as Doolittle had some nice scenes, and is in a lot of the movie, more than what I thought. He's the glue at the end of the movie.
Visuals: Schwartzman's cinematography was excellent and ILM's work was flawless. Super photoreal, Opposite of the Mummy returns. Great stuff.
Sound: This film is mixed in DTS, SRD, and full 8 Channel SDDS. The bass is amazing. See it in SDDS 8 if you can. Not much during the first half except some flybys. But the music of the Japaneese preparing to fight WOW!! So much bass. Some cool S*%T! Battle scenes deliver on the sound. Hans Zimmer's score, sounded Morricone-ish at the beginning then turns into a universal-team-zimmer-brucheimer-theme. I always have a weakness to this theme. But Zimmer delivers, but mostly on his subtle work, and his Japanese motif.
The ending is what hurt the movie the most, there's this tacked on narration by Kate Backinsale, "Why you should care about Pearl Harbor". With a model shot of the Arizona, identical to the ending shot in Titanic. It made me hurt. Please Bay remove this.
I really cared about this movie a lot, but it fails on many levels. I just pray that Bay makes a director's cut on DVD, and it to be brilliant. He a great director, with a great film. He just needed more time to edit.
I'm sad.
I am Project Rage.
