Product Details

• Actors: Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, Alec Baldwin, Jaime King
• Directors: Michael Bay
• Writers: Randall Wallace
• Producers: Barry H. Waldman, Bruce Hendricks, Chad Oman, Jennifer Klein, Jerry Bruckheimer
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Touchstone / Disney
• DVD Release Date: December 4, 2001
• Run Time: 183 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,322 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00003CXTG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,755 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #25 in Movies & TV > DVD > Military & War
  • #94 in Movies & TV > DVD > Romance
• For more information about "Pearl Harbor (Two-Disc 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

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

Product Description

Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 06/07/2005

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars WHY?..., July 2, 2002

By 

GretschViking "gretschviking" (Northeastern, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pearl Harbor (Two-Disc 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition) (DVD)

Why does Hollywood have to make a three hour movie about a terrible day in US history and turn it into 'As The World Turns'? I could not believe that I sat through this piece of junk. It was 2 1/2 hours of 'General Hospital' and 1/2 hour of reality. It's a shame that Hollywood feels that 99% of the films that come out today must contain some kind of soap opera setting to satisfy what they think the lady folks wish to see. I find that to be rather insulting to women and I am not a female. There is nothing romantic about December 7,1941. It gets 1 star for the actual attack sequence. I must mention that I highly doubt that while they flew over head, the Japanese pilots were signaling to the American children to take cover. Silliness. If you wish to see a great film on Pearl Harbor, seek out 'Tora! Tora! Tora!' and let this one rot.

32 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A BETTER CUT & A GREAT DVD RELEASE!, June 16, 2002

By 

Steven Hancock (Winston Salem, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pearl Harbor (The Director's Cut) (Four-Disc Vista Series) (DVD)

The Vista Series has released the biggest and greatest DVD package ever assembled with "Pearl Harbor- The Director's Cut." The new 184 Minute cut is edited better. The attack sequence is more realistic and graphic, the reason for this cut's R-rating. And the four-disc set features hours of behind-the-scenes footage, two documentaries on the real attack and the Doolittle Raid, and commentary tracks from Michael Bay and Janine Basinger; Jerry Brucheimer, Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett and Alec Baldwin; The Director of Photography, Costume Designer, Visual Effects Supervisor and Composer. A great addition to the DVD collection. And if you think this is good, then get ready for the November release of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring- The Director's Edition" four-disc set! Movie Grade: A+; DVD Grade: A+

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A turkey, not a Pearl..., April 8, 2002

By 

John Dynan (Highett, Vic Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pearl Harbor (Two-Disc 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition) (DVD)

This is probably the worst movie I've ever seen. The trouble is that young people watching it will be swept up by the various romantic angles and not realise that it is so factually inadequate. This is not the way it happened, make no mistake.

The historical details may not seem important to the average viewer but to anyone who has read anything on the subject it is verging on offensive to put this rubbish on screen. This is how Hollywood can misinform people and the punters who have not read anything about it should not be sacrificed at the altar of box office success. Just because it is not a documentary does not mean the public should be misled.

In terms of screenplay, this movie cannot be taken seriously as it does not seem to be able to decide exactly what its plot is. There are elements borrowed from "From Here To Eternity", "Tora, Tora, Tora", "Battle of Britain" and "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo", none of which it even comes close to emulating.

The characterisations are, at best, shallow and, at worst, positively painful and give the cast little in the way of development to work with. Thus their performances cannot be taken as seriously as one would like, especially in the light of some of their individual achievments in past productions. As for direction, there really isn't much.

There is much fudging of names; "Capt. Thurman" of the ONI, for example, is clearly a figment of the scriptwriter's immagination and a product of a total lack of research which would have turned up one "Capt. Alvin Kramer" had anybody bothered to find out. Dates and events are also copiuosly fudged for no real reason. There were no American pilots in the Battle of Britain and NOBODY used the Luftwaffe for target practice. What you end up with is a comic-book script to replace real American history, thus undermining the dignity and achievements of the participants in the real events. That is an unpardonable sin akin to trivialising.

The special effects were poor by comparison with other special effects films and I actually found the attack sequences rather boring. Bomb-cam is getting just a bit too predictable. The flight models are ridiculous and make a WWII Zero fly like an F-16. The "fighter-jock" mentality got very wearing, too. US pilots did not shoot down Japanese aircraft in droves in the early days; though some met with success. They had to re-write the manual just to survive against the considerably-more-experienced Japanese who had honed their skills after years of fighting in China. It was only after Midway that American pilots started to gain the upper hand.

Sending the cast to boot camp and getting the uniforms right cannot make up for the woeful inadequacies of "Pearl Harbor". This film really cannot be taken seriously and I think it should be sold with a warning. This system won't let me give it a zero so I have to give it an undeserved 1 star. Don't waste your money.