When it comes to movies one of the genres that I like very much is about war, particularly the World War Two setting. Seeing films about World War Two gives me a glimpse of what life looked like during those times. Since school taught me about significant events and places during World War Two the title "Pearl Harbor" made me interested right away in the movie. I was in college that year when it was released in theaters here in our country. Luckily I had money to spare and I was able to watch this historical spectacle on the silver screen. And I am watching it again for this review.

The narrative of Pearl Harbor is about the tragic and fateful event of December 7, 1941, where more than two thousand lives were lost inside more than one hour of chaos and horror that saw America declare war on the empire of Japan.

Pearl Harbor is a three-hour movie and I got bored with some parts of it because of the prolonged scenes of romance between Rafe (Ben Affleck), Danny (Josh Hartnett), and Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale). But I have to admit that the first scenes of the romance were excellent until I started to get bored with the succeeding scenes. The twist in the ending of the relationship between the three protagonists is commendable as it is portrayed very effectively.

To be honest I felt like the movie started flat but it is only logical that it started on the early life of Danny and Rafe while they were both playing in Tennessee simply because they are both the film protagonists.

One of the scenes that doesn't make sense to me is about the nurse's act of injecting their patient. Do nurses that time in Pearl Harbor just stab the syringe off the butt of servicemen? I think not. I think the scene was included to add spice to the movie.

Then came the first Japanese scene which actually talked about the war. The scene made me very excited about what scene was to come from that moment on. I particularly like this kind of scene as opposed to the prolonged drama and romance scenes of the three protagonists. This kind of scene is what makes a great war movie. This scene makes me realize that this kind of narrative is still a root cause of some of the wars and hostilities today.

I am surprised that the first dog fight in the movie happened in Europe instead of Hawai'i. I think the scene were added to the film to showcase the ability of Rafe in dogfighting which establishes the fact that he will be one of the few pilot that ever to get into the air during the fateful day.

One of the scenes that I like when it comes to war movies are the portrayal of military personnel planning their attacks. In this film, the Japanese were portrayed to have taken their planet into a miniature scale or replica of the ship that they were going to bomb. In those scenes of Japanese military personnel the film successfully showed the brilliance of Japanese military men.

The film made me very curious about why the US military was not able to correctly predict the next move of the Japanese military. Some scenes showed that some military personnel took for granted some of the information in hand to act accordingly. Those scenes also showed the disgusting politics inside the military organization which sometimes blinded those that are in uniform.

Michael Bay's juggling of scenes between war scenes and romance is great. I actually love all the military scenes and the stabbing of the syringe. But I have to admit that some of the romance scenes made me a little bit bored but the military scenes erased all of that boredom whenever the film pivots from romance scene to a military scene.

The moment that I have been waiting for in the film finally commences when Japanese pilot finally board their planes. I noticed that a scene also showed Japanese pilots drinking some kind of tea or liquor before boarding their plane. Aside from that, the scene showed the faces of Japanese pilots as very brave, determined, and ready to die for their nation. There is also a scene showing two Japanese attaching headbands to their head. The background music of the mobilization of Japanese pilots seems very intense and fits perfectly with the moment of preparing for an attack.

Another moment that I have been waiting for is the start of the attack itself. But before the first bomb is dropped the movie treats us to some magnificent aerial spectacles like the scene of the large group of planes, the view of Pearl Harbor, and the low-flying flyby of a Japanese plane that is so close to a person hanging her laundry.

I knew that one of the explosions (screenshot below) was real, in a movie sense it was very impressive just imagine the work and the amount of explosives just to make the scene possible. And then huge smokes ensue after the initial wave. The view of the smoke is also impressive.

Most of the war films that I watched have scenes that are heart-wrenching and Pearl Harbor is one of them. It got me teary-eyed when U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said "Do not tell me... it can't be done".

All in all Pearl Harbor is a very good film aside from some romance scenes that get me a little bored but overall is a great film and a must-watch. The film offers impressive aerial battle scenes and explosions fitting only for a great movie like Pearl Harbor.

That is all for now guys, catch you up with the next one. Wishing you all safety, good health, and abundance.