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List Price: $19.99 | | Label: Touchstone / Disney
Salesrank: 1327
Released: December 4, 2001 |
| Our Price: $9.38 |
| Used Price: $1.91 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
History comes alive in the unforgettable epic motion picture PEARL HARBOR, the spectacular blockbuster brought to the screen by Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay. Astounding visual and audio effects put you at the center of the event that changed the world -- that early Sunday morning in paradise when warplanes screamed across the peaceful skies of Pearl Harbor and jolted America into World War II. This real-life tale of catastrophic defeat, heroic victory, and personal courage focuses on the war's devastating impact on two daring young pilots, Ben Affleck (ARMAGEDDON) and Josh Hartnet (BLACK HAWK DOWN), and a beautiful, dedicated nurse, Kate Beckinsale (SERENDIPITY). PEARL HARBOR is extraordinary moviemaking -- a breathtaking reenactment of the "date which will live in infamy" and a heartfelt tribute to the men and women who lived it.
Description of Pearl Harbor (Two-Disc 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition):
To call Pearl Harbor a throwback to old-time war movies is something of an understatement. Director Michael Bay's epic take on the bombing that brought the United States into World War II hijacks every war movie situation and cliché (some affectionate, some stale) you've ever seen and gives them a shiny, glossy spin until the whole movie practically gleams. Planes glisten, water sparkles, trees beckon--and Bay's re-creation of the bombing itself, a 30-minute sequence that's tightly choreographed and amazingly photographed, sets the action movie bar up quite a few notches. And in updating the classic war film, Bay and screenwriter Randall Wallace (Braveheart) use that old plot standby, the love triangle--this time, it's between two pilots (Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett) and a nurse (Kate Beckinsale) who find themselves stationed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, during what they thought would be a nice, sunny tour of duty. Then, of course, history intervened.
For the first 90 minutes of the movie, Affleck and Beckinsale find a nice, appealing chemistry that plays on his strengths as a movie star and hers as a serious actress--he gives her glamour, she gives him smarts. Their truncated romance--the beginning of which is told in flashback so we can get right to the point where he has to leave her to go to England--works, thanks to their charm. They're no Kate and Leo from Titanic (a strategy the film strives hard toward), but they're pretty darn adorable in their own right. Hartnett, as the not entirely unwelcome third wheel, squints bravely but makes only a slight dent in the film. Everyone else in Pearl Harbor--from Cuba Gooding Jr.'s brave navy seaman to Jon Voight's able impersonation of FDR--is pretty much a glorified walk-on, taking a backseat to the pyrotechnics and action sequences that keep the three-hour film in fairly constant motion. But when that action does take hold, Pearl Harbor is quite a thrilling ride. --Mark Englehart
Pearl Harbor (Two-Disc 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition) Reviews:
Explosive Action and Drama Making A 'Must See Movie'. 
2009-11-07 - Pearl Harbor starring Ben Affleck, and Kate Beckinsale bring a piece of America's history back to life as this two disk DVD set walks you through a dramatization of the Pearl Harbor attacks.
This is a great movie. I feel it does a really good job of showing the `sucker punch' America took in December of 1941.
Though this is a movie, it does a really good job of making us remember.
Otherwise, this film is also very entertaining with a great cast and perfect costumes finely tuned for accuracy to that of 1941.
I found this film to be very easy to follow, and the story in my opinion was flawless.
Very well done, thanks to director Michael Bay.
I have this DVD in my personal movie collection. It's a keeper!
Reporter Joseph Toth
Washington Micro Bank BBS
Boring, sappy, an insult to the original 
2009-10-19 - This movie was so overrated. The acting was awful, the direction slow. It single-handedly makes the war movies of the 1940s all look like Oscar material.
Trey and Matt are right
2009-09-17 - As Trey Parker and Matt Stone put it in their song from "Team America," this movie sucks. It could have been a great story of this "day of infamy" but instead, Bay turned it into a sappy love story. What, the history wasn't exciting and emotional enough? Boo.
Great film confusing sales point 
2009-09-04 - I liked this film and thats why I bought it, however when it said it was a two disk set I mistakenly thought (by the way it was worded) that it would have an extra disk with Pearl Harbor history on it. Nope, in fact if you want to watch the whole movie, you have to change to disk 2 to finish it.
I am sure I should have been able to figure that out, but it wasn't really very clear and although I am not bummed I bought the DVD, I would rather have had everything on one Disk.
Just my 2 cents
Special Effects -Great. Accurate Appearing Ships and Planes.
2009-07-24 - Most people who complain about this movie are worried about the historical inaccuracies and there are some, but what movie does not take liberties when dealing with history? They also complain about the love story presented. Okay it may not be the best. Every movie about the attack on Pearl Harbor has one, however. If there was no story line, you may as well be watching a war documentary. What is great about this movie is watching the attack scenes. The attack scenes last the longest of any of the Pearl Harbor movies made. The reason to see any movie about Pearl Harbor is to see the attack itself. The most impressive thing about this movie is that they made it with accurate appearing ships and aircraft. I never liked "Tora Tora Tora" because the Zero fighters did not look like Zero fighters. They used old Texan Trainer aircraft painted up like Zeros. To some people who don't know the difference I suppose it doesn't matter but to those of us that do, it's annoying. Even movies like "Patton" you never see a Sherman Tank. You see tanks from the 1960's used. "Battle of the Bulge" you see the Germans using American tanks. Why spend all that money to make a war movie and use the wrong tanks and aircraft? They do it because they know most people can't tell the difference and it saves them money.
That is why I enjoy watching movies such as "Pearl Harbor" and "Saving Private Ryan" because the directors care about realism and accurate aircraft, ships and tanks. "Empire of the Sun" is also very accurate. This makes a great war movie for me.
