Am I the only one who didn't hate this movie?

No, you are not the only one, OP. I liked it too. It had eye candy (Affleck and Hartnett), nice costumes, some comedy and fine action scenes. The reenactment of the near destruction of Pearl Harbor and the deaths of so many servicemen was very sad and made me think of the life sacrifices so many people have made in wars.

I understand why some people dislike the movie. I'm assuming hopefully there are other films about Pearl Harbor and the Pacific theater of the war that they can enjoy. I haven't read this thread yet but I've heard Tora! Tora! Tora! mentioned elsewhere as a film more appreciated by some than Pearl Harbor.


~"Chris, am I weird?"
~"Yeah, but so what? Everybody's weird."

Genuinely, really loved it.
I am not a war movie person.
The only reason I bought it was because of Kate.
And as much as I love her, I was a bit surprised as to how much the film drew me in (and not just her alone).
Saw it for the first time a few hours ago.
9/10 for me :)

"Oh, it'll relax you. Let you see into the night sky"

Yeah, I liked it. EVERY MOVIE is full of made up story lines. They call it drama/entertainment. They even state so in the credits. *beep* anyone that disagrees. BTW for the so-called history buff and filmmakers below, all religious movies are full of fiction as well.

No, I personally loved the movie. I love the romantic story line entwined with the war/historical story line. I thought Josh Hartnett did a great job playing Danny. It's one of my favorite movies actually.

I love Pearl Harbor. I'm watching it on AMC right now. It was never intended to be a documentary. Those who hate it can go watch something else. I will enjoy myself watching Pearl Harbor!

All I have to say is


I hate 2/3 of the main characters. I watch it only for the subplots.

So no, it has nothing to do with it "being fashionable to hate Ben aflec" it has to do with the fact they stuck two characters I can't stand in my face for over 3 effing hours..

I like Armageddon to an extent, I can watch it on a quiet afternoon day without feeling rage at scenes.



"Because I knew you, I have been changed...for good."
" You flip flopping ass piece of bitch"

It's an awesome movie, full of nice shots, fair acting and a good sense of how terrible war and, specially, the Pearl Harbor attack was.

If I wanted to know EXACTLY what happened, depicted from a war veteran point if view, I could grab a book or put Discovery Channel on TV.

IT'S A MOVIE. It's respectful towards the US and what happened.
Cheesy or not, it's supposed to be amusing and entertaining and the movies achieves it without question. Awesome music score.

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2 + 2 = 22

I didn't hate this movie. But. It was still pretty bad. The thing is, it wasn't as bad as people claim, nor was it much, if any, worse than similar movies (Titanic, for example). So yes, I believe this film is "cool to hate", and while it has many faults, I fail to see why the hate is directed towards it, while some others (that also include uninspiring acting, disrespecting towards victims and romanticizing a tragedy) get praise.

The problem with Pearl harbor is that it's all over the place. Ok, so they wanted to put a love story in the context of the Pearl Harbor bombing. Fine. Then focus on effin Pearl Harbor bombing! We didn't really need Rafe's adventure in England, and we SURE didn't need Doolittle Raid! I guess studio felt the pressure to end the film on a positive, victorious note for the US, but it's just bad filmmaking. The peak of the story was January 7th, 1941. The movie should end after the attack.

So yes, the film was way too long, it drags for on and on and on, without any reason for it to be like that. The love triangle was super cliché and completely predictable, but even that could have worked with better pacing and focus. It's like they never knew what they wanted to make: a love movie, movie about Pearl Harbor, or a movie about Doolittle Raid. So they put everything, and nothing came out of it.

Still, crappy as it was, it was still better than I expected based on reviews. Or, shall I say, it was no worse than some other movies that are praised. So I really don't know what went wrong here. Maybe they were a little too obvious when it comes to copying Titanic themes? Or maybe people really, really hate on Ben Affleck? Or maybe Americans felt this one closer to home and were more judgmental? I have no idea.

All I know is that, while it was a crappy, overly sentimental and cliché movie, it was no worse than so many other films that got positive reviews. The attack itself, once it begun, was great. Supporting characters were interesting (alas, more interesting than our uninspiring trio). Main cast was pretty to look at (well, some of them). It was a visually beautiful film. Sure, it WAS a bad movie, but not as horrible as people claim.

PS- I think a 2h max director's cut, without the Doolittle raid and some of the cheesiest lines removed ("I don't think I'll ever look at another sunset without thinking of you" and the like), and with at least some of clichés gone, would be much, much better, even with the same overall plot and the same cast.