HTF REVIEW: "Pearl Harbor" The Director's Cut (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

I do believe that we've finally came across the dvd set that will de-throne the T2 Ultimate Edition as the most intense and elaborate set ever produced! I was wondering when that would happen, and here it is. I guess it'll be up to the Titanic First Class Edition dvd to beat this one now!
Are you listening Paramount?
Ron,
your greatest review yet! Very clear and consise breakdowns of the contents of this staggering set, you must have been positivly exhausted after going through all of that! Great work!
Matt,
thanks for the rundown on the changes made to the movie, I was going to ask about that very thing in this post.
Jerry,
who are you kidding, you KNOW you'll pick this one up!
I'm all over it like syrup on flapjacks! I really enjoyed the movie.

 

[Matt Pasant]

Correct, poor wording on my part. Changed now, so as far as I could tell 2 scenes were "removed"

-- Matt

 

[Chet_F]

The major problem I have with this flick was that it was promoted as a Pear Harbor flick. Pearl Harbor being the key words here. No offense but when I see a title called "Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure" I expect to see just that. This movie IMHO did not even have an accurate trailer. The trailers I saw were EXTREMELY misrepresented. They showed what I thought was going to be a Pearl Harbor flick. What I received was a sappy, ridiculous love story that I could really care less about. If you liked the film, more power to you. I thought the movie was a comlpete and utter disgrace. Maybe I should just expect this from Hollywood from now on and do exactly what Ron-P recommended:
"I watch movies for entertainment, not historical accuracy, if I want that, I'll watch a documentary."
I wanted a somewhat historically accurate film but instead got a disjointed, MTV styled film. What a joke....just my opinion

 

[Shane Martin]

Why the hell are we still discussing this movie when this thread is strictly about the dvd? we know the # of Pearl Harbor haters that are out there and we know how you feel no matter how many times you wish to rehash it.

And it amazes me that the moderators haven't done anything about this huge threadfart. The dead horse can only be beaten so many times.

 

[Deane Johnson]

Right on Shane. This is a review thread of the new DVD. If someone doesn't care for the movie, just bypass the thread and read about something they do care about. Sheesh.

Deane

 

[Andy Kim]

How is Hans Zimmer's comments? He's my favourite composer and I remember when he came aboard, he joined because Bay had shown him some animatics of the attack and he said the movie ended up being something totally different.

 

[Robert Dallas]

Ok first this is not an attack against the people at Disney, but why do they care so much about money?!.

They would have gotten a lot more money if the film was really about the Pearl Harbor attack, and not about the love story.

Though i thought it was a pretty good film, it could have been much more.

Now if it was really about the war,it could have been like "The Rock", which is without a doubt, Bay´s best film.

Also have i told anyone that the differences between the DD and the DTS tracks are incredibly minimal?.

The DTS track only has bass little bit more stronger and better separation, but it didn´t kept me out off the film just like the DD

 

[Julian Lalor]

Are you listening Paramount?

I think that question is better directed at James Cameron. There is little Paramount can do if Cameron doesn't involve himself in the SE (other than re-release the film in an anamorphic DVD).

 

[Matt Pasant]

The original title of the film was Tennessee, I am sure somewhere along the way the higher ups made the decision on the title.
-- Matt

 

[Robert Dallas]

It seemed that the original story was going to be a drama, also an action film, without a love story.

About soldiers from Tenesse that happen to be in the PH attack.

 

[Mark E J]

It seemed that the original story was going to be a drama, also an action film, without a love story.

No the love story was there from the begining but it was originally very small. Michael Bay was about to leave Disney to do some more serious non-Bruckhiemer films and Disney pitched an idea to they had been kicking around. "Two brothers fall in love with the same girl right before Pearl Harbor."

Bay became interested with Pearl Harbor aspects of the pitch and began doing research with Randall Wallace. They interviewed dozens of Pearl Harbor vets. Bay claims to have had a life changeing experience during this time. He became so moved by the suvivor's stories that he felt obligated to make a tribute to their heroism and sacrifice.

He and Wallace took the original concept and molded it in to a very large canvass that would cover the innocence of America before the attack, the horror of the attack itself, as well as America's coming together after and stricking back against Japan.

The 2 brothers were turned into life long friends who fall in love with a Navy Nurse. It was intitled Tennessee and the love story has supposed to be a minor subplot. The main focus of the original concept was to be the historical characters and situations covered in the move not the love story.

Bay envisioned the Battle of Britian sequence to be a massive part of the first half featuring several graphic and intense dogfights that would showcase strength and heroism of the RAF as well as the Eagle squadron.

Kimmel and Yamamoto were to much larger characters. With alot more scenes about the planning of the attack and the code brakers attempts to discover what the Japanese were up to.

The Dolittle raid was supposed to be much larger in scale as well.

In short the original concept was to focus on the history with a few cut aways to a romantic supblot.

Disney fought this concept from the begining. They wanted less history and more romance. They fought against the Battle of Britian, the Dolittle raid, and much of the attack. Bay stood his ground and got what he could. Even walking of the production 4 time in protest.

There are many problems with the movie we got, but most of them are the fault of Disney not Bay.

Pearl Harbor veterans have be very happy with the film I guess in the end that is all that matters.

 

[John_McKittrick]

Shane and Deanne,

I believe it was the moderators who actually instigated it by saying the film sucked in the review. It's in black and white right there. Enough said.

John

 

[Colin Jacobson]

How is Hans Zimmer's comments?

Minimal. The third commentary incorporates statements from five different participants; Ron missed Zimmer and Michael Laing since they aren't listed in the DVD's booklet with the others. On that track, DP John Schwartzman HEAVILY dominates; he talks at least 60% of the time. Zimmer appears maybe five times during the edited commentary and doesn't say much; of the five participants, I estimated he was fourth on the list in regard to speaking time.

In other words, don't buy the DVD if you just want it to hear Zimmer...

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

quote...
"I think that question is better directed at James Cameron."

No, it's better directed at Paramount. James Cameron ALWAYS goes all out for his dvd's, he's already made more trips to TITANIC's wreck site to film footage for an IMAX film he's doing AND more footage to include in the upcoming SE of the film.

I have 0, zip, nadda, no doubt that this dvd will be his crowning achievment.

 

[Julian Lalor]

So, if Cameron is working on an SE for Titanic, what's the problem? This is not a contest.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Julian,
the problem is that Paramount has never produced a dvd edition as large and elaborate as either the T2 UE or this new Pearl Harbor dvd, and even though James Cameron is willing to do it, Paramount may not opt to do an edition so large, so contrary to what I said so abundantly clear in my other post, I am just a TAD worried I guess.
It's not about a contest Julian, it's about doing proper justice to the most successful film in world wide box office history! That film deserves it. I have such grand ideas for this dvd that far exceeds both the T2 UE and the Pearl Harbor Vista Series dvd's.
I expect nothing less than the SE of that film to EXCEED either of these dvd's in terms of content.

 

[Tim Mauldin]

There is a built in audience for these type
of movies, and perhaps the reason why many people
like us don't like these films anymore is because
we are no longer the teenage crowd that eats this
stuff up.

If you didn't like the movie thats fine, and you're certainly entitled to your opinion. However, I see no reason for the backhanded insult and sterotyping of those who did enjoy it.

I liked this movie and have the first release, and may pick this one up as well.

 

[David Ruiz]

I honestly don't understand why so many people hated the film. Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay, did a lot of research about what happened that day, before filming the movie. They just didn't "make it all up" as some of you guys are implying.

I was watching the extras the other day, and they said that even the love triangle happened in real life (or something to that effect). Bruckheimer and Bay, interviewed many of the survivors of that day, and put all of their stories into the film.

It's a beautiful film. I will be buying director's cut to see more extras. I too, am looking forward to hearing Ben Affleck's commentary.

If the survivors of Pearl Harbor loved the film, because it's an accurate description of the stories they told, then why must people say that they were wrong? I've heard many people comment that it's not accurate on what happened. How do you know? Were you there?

I read somewhere on here, that people were calling it a comedy. WHERE? I didn't see any comedic elements to it. It wasn't even an un-intentional comedy. There was absolutely nothing funny about it. Maybe they were watching a different movie entirely.

 

[John_McKittrick]

Yeah I love it when a movie based on a historical event is released and everybody is an expert on that specific topic. We saw it with BraveHeart, Titanic, Saving Private Ryan, Pearl Harbor, any many others. I guess they're geniuses or all history professors.

John

 

[PerryD]

I was never concerned about the historical accuracies of the movie, I just thought the acting and directing were subpar. I really wanted to enjoy this movie, and at worst, own the movie just for the attack sequence, but I just didn't get into the movie at all. I never had the nervousness or awe that I feel every time I watch the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan. I did laugh near the end at what was supposed to be the most tear jerking scene, the death scene which the dialogue was taken straight out of Jim Carrey's death scene as a cowboy in the Mask.
. It does sound like the original vision of the movie would have been much better.