Reviews Wanted: Pearl Harbor 2 DVD set
12-04-01, 10:50 PM
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Reviews Wanted: Pearl Harbor 2 DVD set
How good of a DVD is this movie? Special Features etc? How good of a plot does it have?Worth a purchase?
12-06-01, 09:31 PM
#2
DVD Talk Limited Edition
My dad was in WWII, Korea and Vietnam as a pilot. He was trained in the same bombers that Doolittle flew off the Aircraft carrier. One of my dad’s friends (Bill Bower) flew on the mission with Jimmy Doolittle to bomb Japan. I have known Bill most of my life (well, I meet him when I was 13). The bombing of Japan was great for the moral of the United States, we did not have much good news against Japan up to that point. It made people believe that we could beat the country that made us pay
such a terrible price in Pearl Harbor. That is why I was hoping
Disney was not going to mess with history to much.
Over the past six months there have been alot of people who said that PH(the movie) got nothing right as far as history goes. So, I did some research and found out that it did get about 95% of history correct. Some of the "mistakes" were "artistic liberities".
Some of things that people said that PH got wrong were:
1. They sun was too bright during the attack(sun came up to early)
2. Dorie Miller(a black man) never received a medal until after he died
3. Doolittle's men never crashed in China
For the most part they got the points from history right:
1. The planes bunch up together when the bombing started
2. The time in the morning when the strike took place
3. Two men (the names were changed) driving to a small airfield to take off
4. Those two men shooting down Japan airplanes
5. The cook(Dorie Miller) shooting down planes from one of the ships guns
6. The cook(Dorie Miller) getting the metal on the deck on one of the Aircraft Carriers for his bravery
(http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/...-m/d-miller.htm).
7. Doolittles Raiders taking off early because they were spotted by some small boats.(and they really did place black boom sticks in the plane as guns in the back of the plane)
8. Some of the Planes did crash in China and some the men did
die(But I do not think they died in a gun fight, they either died by being executed by the Japanese or drowning while bailing out after bombing Japan - they changed execution to gun fight).
http://www.b25.net/raiderslist.html
9. Sunrise was about an hour before the attack
http://www.sunrisesunset.com/calend...001&time_type=0
10. Sinking of the minisubs
11. The presidents speech
12. The photo man's death
13. Date of the attack on PH
14. Time of the attack on PH
15. The messages getting to Hawaii late
16. Date for the Doolittle Raiders taking off
17. Hornet being the name of the lead Aircraft Carrier
16. There is more, but my wife called and wants me to come home for dinner...
The place were they did not go with history is:
1. The 2 men who shot down Japan's planes never went with Doolittle(maybe they could not get they rights to the mens names or something.
I believe the love story did show how the war changed people’s
lives forever. Without the human drama, PH would not have been true to those who lost the people they loved. True, some of the lines were corny and unoriginal, but it did remined me of some of the old black & white movies from that time period.
Once again, I say they got 95% of history correct. That means out of 100 parts of history, 95 are correct and 5 are wrong.
Not a perfect movie, but my wife and everyone else I know loved
it. I will always love Tora, Tora, Tora, but PH is a great movie.
such a terrible price in Pearl Harbor. That is why I was hoping
Disney was not going to mess with history to much.
Over the past six months there have been alot of people who said that PH(the movie) got nothing right as far as history goes. So, I did some research and found out that it did get about 95% of history correct. Some of the "mistakes" were "artistic liberities".
Some of things that people said that PH got wrong were:
1. They sun was too bright during the attack(sun came up to early)
2. Dorie Miller(a black man) never received a medal until after he died
3. Doolittle's men never crashed in China
For the most part they got the points from history right:
1. The planes bunch up together when the bombing started
2. The time in the morning when the strike took place
3. Two men (the names were changed) driving to a small airfield to take off
4. Those two men shooting down Japan airplanes
5. The cook(Dorie Miller) shooting down planes from one of the ships guns
6. The cook(Dorie Miller) getting the metal on the deck on one of the Aircraft Carriers for his bravery
(http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/...-m/d-miller.htm).
7. Doolittles Raiders taking off early because they were spotted by some small boats.(and they really did place black boom sticks in the plane as guns in the back of the plane)
8. Some of the Planes did crash in China and some the men did
die(But I do not think they died in a gun fight, they either died by being executed by the Japanese or drowning while bailing out after bombing Japan - they changed execution to gun fight).
http://www.b25.net/raiderslist.html
9. Sunrise was about an hour before the attack
http://www.sunrisesunset.com/calend...001&time_type=0
10. Sinking of the minisubs
11. The presidents speech
12. The photo man's death
13. Date of the attack on PH
14. Time of the attack on PH
15. The messages getting to Hawaii late
16. Date for the Doolittle Raiders taking off
17. Hornet being the name of the lead Aircraft Carrier
16. There is more, but my wife called and wants me to come home for dinner...
The place were they did not go with history is:
1. The 2 men who shot down Japan's planes never went with Doolittle(maybe they could not get they rights to the mens names or something.
I believe the love story did show how the war changed people’s
lives forever. Without the human drama, PH would not have been true to those who lost the people they loved. True, some of the lines were corny and unoriginal, but it did remined me of some of the old black & white movies from that time period.
Once again, I say they got 95% of history correct. That means out of 100 parts of history, 95 are correct and 5 are wrong.
Not a perfect movie, but my wife and everyone else I know loved
it. I will always love Tora, Tora, Tora, but PH is a great movie.
12-07-01, 06:28 AM
#3
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Thanks for the insight and information Iron_Giant.
I too really liked the movie and find the DVD very good. The sound and picture are excellent.
If you didn't like it...don't watch it. I know they took some small liberties with this movie...but its just that...a movie.
I walked out of Saving Private Ryan with a newfound and discovered respect for our forefathers. PH did about that same thing. Yes there was the love story...but it was how a tragic event affected peoples lives. Simply put.
Ever since SPR I have been reading up on WW2. Stephen Ambrose is a brilliant writer.
Edited to add: Wal Mart had this for $17.98. Well worth the purchase price in my mind. The extras are ok...but I'll be buying the SE coming out in a few months. I think I'll give this one to my parents. My only gripe is that I have to switch discs for the ending...but to get the DTS...I'll put up with it
I too really liked the movie and find the DVD very good. The sound and picture are excellent.
If you didn't like it...don't watch it. I know they took some small liberties with this movie...but its just that...a movie.
I walked out of Saving Private Ryan with a newfound and discovered respect for our forefathers. PH did about that same thing. Yes there was the love story...but it was how a tragic event affected peoples lives. Simply put.
Ever since SPR I have been reading up on WW2. Stephen Ambrose is a brilliant writer.
Edited to add: Wal Mart had this for $17.98. Well worth the purchase price in my mind. The extras are ok...but I'll be buying the SE coming out in a few months. I think I'll give this one to my parents. My only gripe is that I have to switch discs for the ending...but to get the DTS...I'll put up with it
Last edited by FiveO; 12-07-01 at 06:32 AM.
12-07-01, 01:09 PM
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Iron_Giant...thanks so much for going over the facts of the movie. It sounds like you have pretty good resources to pull from. I have a minor in history and while I don't claim to know all the ins and outs of what exactly happend in Hawaii on that fateful day I do know that while I watched PH I was thinking to myself why did this movie get ripped to shreds so much. I had read about all the historical inaccuracies throughout the movie but none really stood out to me except the part about American fighter pilots flying in the RAF Eagle squadrons and the fact that the two fighter pilots from Pearl joined Doolittle on his raid. And I understand why they took the liberties to do this and I didn't find it distracting or that it took away from the film at all. I found the events they portrayed to be an accurate look into PH and I think they did it with taste.
As far as the disc goes, Wow! The video quality is top notch displaying a 3 D look some of the time. There is very slight edge enhancement that I noticed but I didn't find it distracting at all. Of course I am watching it on a 50" RPTV and not an elaborate front screen projector system so your mileage may vary. I only listened to the dts audio track and it has to be one of, if not the, best sounding discs I have ever heard. I was totally floored. The movie is spread over 2 discs but the break/intermission comes at an appropriate location inthe movie and after sitting still for over 2 hours I was ready for a little break anyway. The extras on the disc mainly consist of 2 documentaries. One deals more with the making of the movie while the other looks into the events of the day in more of a historical / documentary style. I enjoyed both. You get a teaser trailer and the theatrical trailer and a terrible music video although the scenery isn't bad
As far as the movie is concerned, well I liked it as did the rest of my family that watched it. Perhaps the love story does go on a bit too long but I actually thought the 3 hours just flew by so I imagine everyone will have their own opinion about the movie. I personally think that the main reason the movie has been trashed so thoroughly is the fact that it is a Bay & Bruckheimer production. Either way, I usually like his movies and I like this one too.
I won't even begin recommending this movie just simply because of the amount of abuse this picture has taken, I would hope that if you have an interest in the subject matter you at least give it a rental. Remember that in a few months they are releasing a 3 or 4 disc director's cut of the film so you might just want to wait until then.
Iron_Giant...if oyu have the time and can think of any other tidbits about the actual event please throw some more at us, I really enjoy this stuff.
As far as the disc goes, Wow! The video quality is top notch displaying a 3 D look some of the time. There is very slight edge enhancement that I noticed but I didn't find it distracting at all. Of course I am watching it on a 50" RPTV and not an elaborate front screen projector system so your mileage may vary. I only listened to the dts audio track and it has to be one of, if not the, best sounding discs I have ever heard. I was totally floored. The movie is spread over 2 discs but the break/intermission comes at an appropriate location inthe movie and after sitting still for over 2 hours I was ready for a little break anyway. The extras on the disc mainly consist of 2 documentaries. One deals more with the making of the movie while the other looks into the events of the day in more of a historical / documentary style. I enjoyed both. You get a teaser trailer and the theatrical trailer and a terrible music video although the scenery isn't bad
As far as the movie is concerned, well I liked it as did the rest of my family that watched it. Perhaps the love story does go on a bit too long but I actually thought the 3 hours just flew by so I imagine everyone will have their own opinion about the movie. I personally think that the main reason the movie has been trashed so thoroughly is the fact that it is a Bay & Bruckheimer production. Either way, I usually like his movies and I like this one too.
I won't even begin recommending this movie just simply because of the amount of abuse this picture has taken, I would hope that if you have an interest in the subject matter you at least give it a rental. Remember that in a few months they are releasing a 3 or 4 disc director's cut of the film so you might just want to wait until then.
Iron_Giant...if oyu have the time and can think of any other tidbits about the actual event please throw some more at us, I really enjoy this stuff.
12-07-01, 02:50 PM
#5
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Here is a very emotional reading of what happened to the Doolittle Raiders.
No moive could ever show the real horrors of war. Lets say for the record, Japan did not treat their prisoners very good.
http://www.rayappleton.com/JimmyDoolittle.htm
Here is the best website I found to get all the details of what happened at PH: every ship in port, on patrol, sunk, hit or repaired, personnal accounts, photos, aftermath...
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq66-1.htm
"Little known Doris Miller Facts:"
-Commissioned on 30 June 1973, USS Miller (FF-1091), a Knox-class frigate, was named in honor of "Doris Miller".
-On 11 October 1991, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority dedicated a bronze commemorative plaque of Miller at the Miller Family Park located on the U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor.
-In addition to the Navy Cross, Miller was entitled to the Purple Heart Medal; the American Defense Service Medal, Fleet Clasp; the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; and the World War II Victory Medal.
-Assigned to the newly constructed USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56) in the spring of 1943, Miller was on board that escort carrier during Operation Galvanic, the seizure of Makin and Tarawa Atolls in the Gilbert Islands. Liscome Bay's aircraft supported operations ashore between 20-23 November 1943. At 5:10 a.m. on 24 November, while cruising near Butaritari Island, a single torpedo from Japanese submarine I-175 struck the escort carrier near the stern. The aircraft bomb magazine detonated a few moments later, sinking the warship within minutes. Listed as missing following the loss of that escort carrier, Miller was officially presumed dead 25 November 1944, a year and a day after the loss of Liscome Bay. Only 272 Sailors survived the sinking of Liscome Bay, while 646 died.
No moive could ever show the real horrors of war. Lets say for the record, Japan did not treat their prisoners very good.
http://www.rayappleton.com/JimmyDoolittle.htm
Here is the best website I found to get all the details of what happened at PH: every ship in port, on patrol, sunk, hit or repaired, personnal accounts, photos, aftermath...
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq66-1.htm
"Little known Doris Miller Facts:"
-Commissioned on 30 June 1973, USS Miller (FF-1091), a Knox-class frigate, was named in honor of "Doris Miller".
-On 11 October 1991, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority dedicated a bronze commemorative plaque of Miller at the Miller Family Park located on the U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor.
-In addition to the Navy Cross, Miller was entitled to the Purple Heart Medal; the American Defense Service Medal, Fleet Clasp; the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; and the World War II Victory Medal.
-Assigned to the newly constructed USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56) in the spring of 1943, Miller was on board that escort carrier during Operation Galvanic, the seizure of Makin and Tarawa Atolls in the Gilbert Islands. Liscome Bay's aircraft supported operations ashore between 20-23 November 1943. At 5:10 a.m. on 24 November, while cruising near Butaritari Island, a single torpedo from Japanese submarine I-175 struck the escort carrier near the stern. The aircraft bomb magazine detonated a few moments later, sinking the warship within minutes. Listed as missing following the loss of that escort carrier, Miller was officially presumed dead 25 November 1944, a year and a day after the loss of Liscome Bay. Only 272 Sailors survived the sinking of Liscome Bay, while 646 died.
12-07-01, 03:09 PM
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I am not reviewing the DVD set, I am commenting, briefly, on the movie.
Pearl Harbor was, without a doubt, the worst movie I can remember seeing since ( Tomb Raider , last week, but you get the idea) I don't know when.
The plot was contrived, contrite, condescending, convoluted, and cornfed.
The acting was terrible, especially Ben Affleck. The decision to even cast him in a role where he is presumed to be less than his late 20's is suspect as well. The supporting characters were cliched and trite (my favorite panning review word).
Seriously, I don't want to touch upon any spoilers, but I have been around awhile and, while I was always strongly down on Saving Private Ryan (as vs. The Thin Red Line ) as manipulative and intellectually insulting and was always firmly in the anti-Armaggedon camp (as an overproduced, jingoistic music video), BUT comparted to Pearl Harbor those films look like pure genius.
Please don't waste your time or your money. Go watch Tora, Tora, Tora or even America's Sweethearts *yak* before you think of watching this one.
Pearl Harbor was, without a doubt, the worst movie I can remember seeing since ( Tomb Raider , last week, but you get the idea) I don't know when.
The plot was contrived, contrite, condescending, convoluted, and cornfed.
The acting was terrible, especially Ben Affleck. The decision to even cast him in a role where he is presumed to be less than his late 20's is suspect as well. The supporting characters were cliched and trite (my favorite panning review word).
Seriously, I don't want to touch upon any spoilers, but I have been around awhile and, while I was always strongly down on Saving Private Ryan (as vs. The Thin Red Line ) as manipulative and intellectually insulting and was always firmly in the anti-Armaggedon camp (as an overproduced, jingoistic music video), BUT comparted to Pearl Harbor those films look like pure genius.
Please don't waste your time or your money. Go watch Tora, Tora, Tora or even America's Sweethearts *yak* before you think of watching this one.
12-07-01, 03:38 PM
#7
DVD Talk Limited Edition
I do not disagree with the acting of Ben. It was real bad at times.
Some of the lines the used reminded me of old movies from that time period, which was ok by me(But, they were "corny").
But, I loved the movie.
-It showed how peoples(a whole nation) lives changed in a matter of 2 hours.
-Great job in the making the movie look like the 1940's
-Specail effects were awesome
-It was 95% correct in history.
-Picture quality on the DVD was fantastic
-Sound was unbelievable(in a good way)
-Loved any sceen Doris Miller was in!!!!
-The president as perfect as an actor could get
-The "Making of PH" on the DVD was one of the best I have ever seen
-The "History Channel Special on PH" was fantastic(great details on the attack)
Perfect movie, no. But, it did give you some of emotions people did feel when PH was attacked. No movie can truely make you relive an event.
And everyone of my friends/family loved the movie.
I bought mine at Best Buy for 16.99. So, for me it was worth the purchase.
REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR!(I do mean this out of respect for those who died, not for the DVD)
Some of the lines the used reminded me of old movies from that time period, which was ok by me(But, they were "corny").
But, I loved the movie.
-It showed how peoples(a whole nation) lives changed in a matter of 2 hours.
-Great job in the making the movie look like the 1940's
-Specail effects were awesome
-It was 95% correct in history.
-Picture quality on the DVD was fantastic
-Sound was unbelievable(in a good way)
-Loved any sceen Doris Miller was in!!!!
-The president as perfect as an actor could get
-The "Making of PH" on the DVD was one of the best I have ever seen
-The "History Channel Special on PH" was fantastic(great details on the attack)
Perfect movie, no. But, it did give you some of emotions people did feel when PH was attacked. No movie can truely make you relive an event.
And everyone of my friends/family loved the movie.
I bought mine at Best Buy for 16.99. So, for me it was worth the purchase.
REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR!(I do mean this out of respect for those who died, not for the DVD)
Last edited by Iron_Giant; 12-07-01 at 03:40 PM.
05-22-02, 10:47 AM
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I know this is old, but I finally rented this movie. I couldn't even finish watching it, it was so bad. I finally gave up and skipped to the bombing part for some excitement. Then I put it back in the case and returned it. I just didn't care anymore. Did anyone actually think this was a quality movie? Give me Tora! Tora! Tora! any day for a true historical perspective.
05-22-02, 12:01 PM
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I think all you haters are missing the main point. This was a MOVIE!!! It was based an some actual events, but it was never meant to be a documentary on the attack. That would have put the movergoers to sleep. It had to have action, romance and a sub plot. We all basically know what happened that tragic morning. This was just a movie for entertainment, not education.
05-23-02, 04:56 PM
#10
DVD Talk Limited Edition
As a movie, PH failed terribly for me. Overly manipulative, sappy love story, the whole thing just kind of belittled and seemed like the Hallmark card version of what actually happened. And the movie had no reason to be as long as it was, what a bore.
05-23-02, 06:40 PM
#11
DVD Talk Hero
you know the part where
plus i heard that alot of the veterens were not to pleased about this movie.
how in the world is this movie 95% accurette. i found these problems with it
*the bombs face down when heading to the boats, when they were vertical
*the bombs took at least 3 or 4 sec to blow up after they hit the ground. if tora... is around 100% accurette, we see that the bombs blow up as soon as they hit the ground
*one person says "it looks like ww2 has started." it actually would be called the second great war at that time.
*in tora... we see the people what looks like practicing the star spangled banner before the attack, this never happens in pearl harbor.
there are probably alot more things than i mentioned.
Spoiler:
how in the world is this movie 95% accurette. i found these problems with it
*the bombs face down when heading to the boats, when they were vertical
*the bombs took at least 3 or 4 sec to blow up after they hit the ground. if tora... is around 100% accurette, we see that the bombs blow up as soon as they hit the ground
*one person says "it looks like ww2 has started." it actually would be called the second great war at that time.
*in tora... we see the people what looks like practicing the star spangled banner before the attack, this never happens in pearl harbor.
there are probably alot more things than i mentioned.
05-24-02, 11:18 AM
#12
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Originally posted by Rypro 525
you know the part where
plus i heard that alot of the veterens were not to pleased about this movie.
how in the world is this movie 95% accurette. i found these problems with it
*the bombs face down when heading to the boats, when they were vertical
*the bombs took at least 3 or 4 sec to blow up after they hit the ground. if tora... is around 100% accurette, we see that the bombs blow up as soon as they hit the ground
*one person says "it looks like ww2 has started." it actually would be called the second great war at that time.
*in tora... we see the people what looks like practicing the star spangled banner before the attack, this never happens in pearl harbor.
there are probably alot more things than i mentioned.
you know the part where
Spoiler:
how in the world is this movie 95% accurette. i found these problems with it
*the bombs face down when heading to the boats, when they were vertical
*the bombs took at least 3 or 4 sec to blow up after they hit the ground. if tora... is around 100% accurette, we see that the bombs blow up as soon as they hit the ground
*one person says "it looks like ww2 has started." it actually would be called the second great war at that time.
*in tora... we see the people what looks like practicing the star spangled banner before the attack, this never happens in pearl harbor.
there are probably alot more things than i mentioned.
The love story part of the film showed how people lost their loved ones in the War. That was as much apart of the war as the battle screen are. My dad was in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. He lost a lot of friends during those wars and that is the hardest thing for him to talk about.
The DVD itself is beautiful. The video is awesome, the sound is just about the best I have ever heard, the extras good(making of the movie was GREAT!), but the dialog could have been better. It did remind me of old war movies.
PH is one of my favorite movies. It helped me to see a small part of the pain the men and women had to go through in PH during the bombing. If we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. And I know a lot of people researched more info on PH after this movie came out, because no movie could contain all the details of such a moment in the world's history.
05-24-02, 12:19 PM
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In the movie, when they are on ships shooting at the Japanese planes it looks like they are also potentially shooting sailors on the next ship over. Did they really shoot like that?
05-24-02, 11:30 PM
#14
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Originally posted by icondude
In the movie, when they are on ships shooting at the Japanese planes it looks like they are also potentially shooting sailors on the next ship over. Did they really shoot like that?
In the movie, when they are on ships shooting at the Japanese planes it looks like they are also potentially shooting sailors on the next ship over. Did they really shoot like that?
