While primarily known for his excessive devices, pyrotechnics and highbrow digital explosiveness, Michael Bay unfortunately falls victim to his overindulgences in “”Pearl Harbor,”” a bloated, patriotic mush-fest disguised as a self-important studio blockbuster.
Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett are literally cast from the hero mold playing childhood friends Rafe and Danny, pilots on the verge of joining our country’s WWII efforts in Pearl Harbor. At the last minute, fly-boy Rafe is recruited for a mission in Britain, leaving behind Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale), the lovely nurse he’s been courting. Months later, after a catastrophic dogfight of the coast, Rafe’s plane goes down. Danny and nurse Evelyn receive word of Rafe’s demise, and the unlikely duo finds comfort in one another’s presence. They strike up a relationship, only to face the consequences when the undead friend and lover shows up in Hawaii on the eve of the Japanese invasion.It’s during said invasion that director Bay is supposed to shine, and he delivers the goods despite the fact it’s all been done before (recently, to boot). This is to say nothing of the fact that the payoff (the attack) comes approximately 90 minutes into the 3-hour epic. Which is perfectly acceptable if the film holds your attention for those 90 minutes. “”Pearl Harbor”” does not. In trying to expand his storytelling chops, Bay bites off more then he can chew. Instead of developing the characters he has – a common criticism of his – he throws more characters into his stew, but they all turn out flavorless. With so much rope, Bay completely hangs himself and the whole production sinks, torpedoed by overbearing dialogue and heavy-handed dramatics that somehow worked better when staged on the hurtling asteroid of “”Armageddon.””Grade: DTHE EXTRASAs much as I hate to report this, the