Pearl Harbor

The comparisons between "Pearl Harbor" and two other blockbusters — "Titanic" and "Tora! Tora! Tora!" — were all too inevitable. Not only do those films share some subject matter and basic story structure — all three films clock in at around three hours.

Given the massive hype behind it, "Pearl Harbor's" success as a box-office attraction is pretty much guaranteed. So for the film to succeed as a cinematic epic, it has to establish itself as something completely original . . . or at least be able to stand on its own.

Unfortunately, it's too much like those other movies, as well as certain scenes from TV's "M*A*S*H" and "ER" and the 1998 end-of-the-world epic "Armageddon," which, coincidentally, came from the same filmmakers.

That said, the movie does boast some of the most impressive war re-creations ever filmed — but they are three-star battle scenes bookended by a sappy, two-star romance.

It's almost as if the filmmakers didn't believe that a strictly "historical" tale would be enough of a hook to bring in the crowds; that some audiences wouldn't buy it without soap-opera contrivances. So it's lucky for them that the film is redeemed by the more compelling war story — though at times, just barely.

The story looks at the "Date Which Will Live in Infamy" from the perspective of several characters who were there (some real-life characters and others created for dramatic license). They include aspiring pilots Rafe McCawley (Ben Affleck) and Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett).

With the United States still staying out of World War II, these two young Tennesseeans are going stir-crazy as they wait to get in on "the action." So Rafe volunteers to fly with British aviators in Europe, much to the chagrin of his nurse-girlfriend Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale).

To no one's surprise, the risk-taking pilot becomes an ace overseas, but when his plane is shot down, he's presumed dead. Meanwhile, Evelyn and Danny have both been shipped out to Pearl Harbor, and having received the news about Rafe, they turn to each other for comfort. But as fate would have it, Rafe has survived and returns just in time to find out about their burgeoning relationship — and to play a part in the fighting when the Japanese launch their attack against U.S. forces headquartered in Hawaii.

The good news here is that someone appears to have given director Michael Bay a dose of Ritalin. Consequently, he favors longer, lingering takes rather than the jittery, MTV-style quick cuts he's become known for. (However, he's not completely cured of that affectation, as the hospital sequences have been shot in blurry, "shaky-cam" style.)