Pearl Harbor
- Thread starter surf
- Start date
For me, as a visual feast it worked well, and apart from the excruciating dialogue in some places, the love story was OK-ish. If it was a generic popcorn war movie that would be fine, and I admit I enjoyed it on that level.
My biggest problem is this: it's about one of the most serious REAL events in world history that set into motion the loss of huge numbers of people on both sides of the war. Yet here we have basically real events shot like a brand advert with model attractive actors who barely get a scratch (at least in vision). How bad would it be to do a similar treatment of more recent real events? How about a nice rocket's eye view crashing through the side of a an Iraq Hummer and blowing up inside?
Just because it took place before most of us were born, shouldn't blind us to how tragic that war was, and how in this sense, it's really quite offensive to make popcorn entertainment out of it. Don't get me wrong - even a war movie has to entertain in some way. But I would suggest black humour and perhaps satire would be a better way to lighten up or comment on a grim subject.
There is a fine subjective line here for me, and I'm sure many will disagree where the line is. Black Hawk Down was also visually amazing, but I think stayed JUST the right side of it. Private Ryan got it mostly right, at least at the beginning. Pearl Harbour I thought ended up on the wrong side of the road and mounted the pavement (sidewalk)!
Just my two cents...
My biggest problem is this: it's about one of the most serious REAL events in world history that set into motion the loss of huge numbers of people on both sides of the war. Yet here we have basically real events shot like a brand advert with model attractive actors who barely get a scratch (at least in vision). How bad would it be to do a similar treatment of more recent real events? How about a nice rocket's eye view crashing through the side of a an Iraq Hummer and blowing up inside?
Just because it took place before most of us were born, shouldn't blind us to how tragic that war was, and how in this sense, it's really quite offensive to make popcorn entertainment out of it. Don't get me wrong - even a war movie has to entertain in some way. But I would suggest black humour and perhaps satire would be a better way to lighten up or comment on a grim subject.
There is a fine subjective line here for me, and I'm sure many will disagree where the line is. Black Hawk Down was also visually amazing, but I think stayed JUST the right side of it. Private Ryan got it mostly right, at least at the beginning. Pearl Harbour I thought ended up on the wrong side of the road and mounted the pavement (sidewalk)!
Just my two cents...
KingVidiot
Well-known member
xl70e3 said:
... thanks to his commercial and video background... all form no substance.
True about not looking too deep. Don't get me started on Armageddon (simultaneous daylight around the world, bah!).
However, he seems to prefer the old graduated filter too much. I wonder if he's a fan of Magic Bullet.:happy:
Some fun facts:
Shot over 1 million feet of film for Pearl Harbor (2001). Used only about 20,000 feet for the final, 9-reel cut.
As a teenager, he worked at ILM in the storyboard department for films like Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
- That's a 50:1 shooting ratio. Hmmmm. I wonder how that compares to other directors? ( not an insult, just wondering).I remember back in film school, a successful director once remarked (on why he didn't like another director) ***from my notes*** " That's not directing (shooting many multiple angles), that's hackery, that's business, that's unimaginative facilitation. Any dumbass can point a camera and film every which way from sunday, then edit the crap out of it to make sense. If you don't know why you're shooting or what the F**ck the story is about then get off the f**king set, and let someone who can shoot, shoot, where the camera demands to be. You see if you have any f**king talent the camera calls to you, demands to be, where only IT can be. It can be nowhere else...That's directing. That's art. That's f**king life. All else is BS, and if you disagree with me, then get the f**ck out"
I never forgot that. I even have that quote on my PDA.
Michael Bay was given the chance of a lifetime. A huge budget, one of the most powerful defining moments in American History, and top flight actors clamouring to be in the flick. IMO, if this movie was in the hands of brilliance (like John Ford, David Lean) then it would have been groundbreaking. As it is, it's candy corn and ju-ju bees. It wasn't horrible, but it proved to me, Bay is nothing but an entertainer and a technician. There's nothing wrong with that. But when I go to see a historical epic, I want a heck of a lot more.
Cheers.
KyleProhaska
Veteran
The movie was pretty emotional and action packed. A little long for the story but the Harbor Sequence is completely worth the whole movie. I have made a full quality file of just that sequence on my computer along with my other collection of favorite movie scenes. Its without a doubt worthy. :laugh: I would recommend this film. Btw, I thought BBI and II were well made films. Michael Bay is a new director who I think will become very, very populair in the future.