Title: Pearl Harbor
Release date: 25 May 2001
Starring: Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale
Director: Michael Bay
Synopsis: Two lifelong friends and fighter pilots find themselves caught in a love triangle just as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor changes the course of their lives and American history.
Reviewed by: Kristen
A Visually Ambitious War Epic That Struggles to Balance Spectacle and Sentiment
There’s no denying the scale of Pearl Harbor. Directed by Michael Bay and released in the wake of Saving Private Ryan and Titanic, this film had its sights set on epic territory — a sweeping wartime romance intertwined with one of the most tragic days in American history. And in many ways, it achieves what it set out to do: the visuals are arresting, the action is thunderous, and the production values are high. But beneath all the grandeur, the film struggles to find emotional clarity.
The narrative splits its time between a fictional love triangle and the historical devastation of the Pearl Harbor attack. Ben Affleck stars as Rafe McCawley, a hotshot pilot who volunteers for the British RAF before America’s entry into the war. His best friend, Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett), and his girlfriend, nurse Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale), are left behind, only to grow close during Rafe’s presumed death in combat. When Rafe returns alive, the triangle ignites with tension just as the real war finally arrives on U.S. shores.
The performances are earnest but limited by the script. Affleck plays Rafe with a square-jawed intensity, but rarely lets vulnerability slip through. Hartnett brings some softness to Danny, and Beckinsale, while luminous, is given little more to do than look torn between the two. Their chemistry isn’t the problem — it’s the emotional shorthand. We’re told they love each other, but we rarely feel it.
The film’s centerpiece, unsurprisingly, is the attack itself. Clocking in at over 40 minutes, it is visually spectacular — a visceral sequence of explosions, aerial combat, and chaos that shows Michael Bay at his most controlled and effective. Say what you will about Bay’s penchant for excess, but in this moment, he channels it into a jaw-dropping depiction of destruction. The sound design is relentless, the camerawork urgent, and the editing tight. It’s hard not to be moved by the sheer devastation, even when surrounded by fictionalized characters.
But the issue lies in tone. Pearl Harbor swings wildly between wartime horror and melodramatic romance. The first hour feels like a sunlit soap opera. The second becomes a war film. The third shifts into a revenge-driven air raid mission over Tokyo. Structurally, it’s bloated and uneven, and emotionally, it struggles to reconcile the tragedy of real events with the demands of blockbuster entertainment.
Still, there are moments of sincerity. The camaraderie among the nurses and pilots is occasionally genuine, and the film’s final act — though veering heavily into dramatization — provides a satisfying arc for the characters, especially in how it handles sacrifice and legacy. Hans Zimmer’s sweeping score adds gravitas, doing much of the emotional heavy lifting.
Pearl Harbor tries to honour history and thrill audiences, but its ambition sometimes eclipses its heart.
In the end, Pearl Harbor isn’t a bad film — it’s an overreaching one. It wants to be Titanic and Saving Private Ryan at once, and in trying to be both, it lands somewhere in between. What remains memorable is the spectacle: the flames over the harbour, the dogfights in the sky, the chaos rendered in cinematic precision.
But war stories are not only measured in scale. They are remembered for the people — and while Pearl Harbor shows us many faces, it doesn’t always let us know them well enough to care.
