If you want to honor Pearl Harbor, don’t watch the Michael Bay film

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

I confess, I’m a sucker for war films. Iconic entries in the genre like Apocalypse Now, The Thin Red Line, Saving Private Ryan and Dunkirk are cinematic masterpieces, blending the action with the pathos of war to help viewers experience even a small fraction of the terror that comes from combat. 

Then there are the stinkers that are weighed down by enough terrible dialogue and cliches to scuttle even the mightiest battleship. I’m talking about entries like Windtalkers, which feels soulless and contrived, despite being directed by John Woo. If I had a nickel for every dumb line uttered by Nicolas Cage — who spent half the movie brooding or yelling — I’d have at least enough to buy a Big Mac. Or Behind Enemy Lines, starring Owen Wilson for odd some reason, who leads this jingoistic blip of a film right into a dead-end (all to the sound of Wilson saying his trite line, “Wow”). Stick to rom-coms, please.

At the top — or perhaps bottom — of this list of stinkers is Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor, released in 2001. I was excited to see this when it first came out, but after watching all three hours and three minutes of this flabby dog, I was left feeling empty inside.

Pearl Harbor, a film filled with heartthrobs that somehow lacks a heart itself. Courtesy screenshot.

The plot, which is allegedly based on real historical events, features American boyhood friends Rafe (played by Ben Affleck) and Danny (played by Josh Hartnett) as they enter World War II as pilots for England’s Royal Air Force. When Rafe is reported to have been killed in action, his girlfriend Evelyn (played by Kate Beckinsale) finds comfort in the arms of Danny. When Rafe appears back from the dead, the three of them are just working out what to do about the love triangle while they reunite in Hawaii just before the Empire of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.

While the 40-minute-long action sequence depicting the attack is visually spectacular, the movie is a hollow-hearted affair with flat, stereotypical characters you’d more likely find on a propaganda poster than in a film. 

Featuring the usual bloated explosions and confectionary dialogue we’ve come to expect from a Michael Bay film, Pearl Harbor attempts to honor the servicemen killed in the attack, but only manages to sensationalize the real events, tricking moviegoers into thinking they’re watching a historically accurate film. Instead, we are forced to wade through the three inches of muck that constitute Bay’s emotional depth. By the time the credits roll, I was left feeling like I watched three hours worth of sentimental Kodak moments that would make any veteran roll their eyes.

One veteran pilot named Kenneth Taylor summed up his view of the film after watching it, describing it as, “a piece of trash; over-sensationalized and completely distorted.”

Jack Leaming, a radio operator in an attack plane that was shot down after the events of Pearl Harbor, said the film was doing a great disservice to the veterans it claimed to be honoring. “They’re not giving them the recognition that they should receive,” Leaming said. “In fact, they’re detracting from it. But that’s the movie business. It’s about money. It’s romanticized.”

To truly honor the fallen on Dec. 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor, put aside the Bay dreck and check out a number of documentaries that tell the story the way it should be told: without the phony Hollywood veneer spread thick over it.

Pearl Harbor: Two Hours that Changed the World is a documentary narrated by journalist David Brinkley. It’s a bit dated, being released in 1991, but this documentary delivers the complete story through the eyes of survivors and witnesses, as well as exploring the aftermath of the attacks once the smoke cleared.

The documentary series World War II in Colour is an excellent collection of episodes that takes place from the run-up to the 1939 invasion of Poland by the Nazis, to VJ Day. The episode “Total War” focuses on the attack on Pearl Harbor, showcasing never-before-seen footage of the attack, as well as explaining the chaotic day from a multitude of perspectives.

Finally, there’s a channel called “World War 2” on YouTube that does weekly episodes about the entire war. Creators dedicated a whole playlist to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which you can find by searching “Pearl Harbor Minute by Minute” on the channel page.