My own review is here.
You'll notice I cover many of the same points that he does. (I was also impressed at how meticulously the film was, impressed at the practical effects, expressed concern about how the movie lacks suspense.)
Also, the History Buff gives some background on the Pearl Harbor attack, which shows that the war was about oil. See my post on The World at War, the section: It’s Always About the Oil
Also, History Buffs references the Nostalgia Critics review of Pearl Harbor, and I also agree this review is a classic.
Funnily enough, I think I can see why some criticisms Tora got is that it doesn't really follow or provide any development for any specific characters in the attack itself, with the exception of Admiral Kimmel; films like "Zulu" (1964) introduce and give development to characters to increase our investment in them so when there’s actual combat, we care about the participants. In "Tora! Tora! Tora!", while the attacks are brutal and horrific, I can't say on whether audience members are for the most part personally invested in anyone who dies or fights during the movie. The "more notable heroes of Pearl Harbor" depicted are mainly introduced the morning of the seventh, or not so much introduced as just shown. Dorie Miller, who is notable for coming from below quarters and is the only black man shown in the attack scene, is shown firing an anti-aircraft gun, but we don’t know anything about him. Some people also wish Miller had more scenes or lines, specifically him helping carry wounded sailors to safety (in the film, we last seen Miller being knocked down to the deck, by the blast of the Arizona exploding). Although to be fair to the film, this is probably because the movie already has a lot of ground to cover, and we don’t need the back story of everyone at Pearl Harbor involved. Much like The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far, we don't need to know EVERY character. The situation carries its own inherent drama. We don’t need to know what John Finn was doing the day before–we just need to see him bleeding and firing in the middle of chaos.
ReplyDeleteMaybe not knowing who some of these people are makes it less engaging. Maybe the movie is too long, but this movie gives a lot of information and a lot of action, and much of it looks great. Funnily enough, the two P-40 pilots, George Welch and Kenneth Taylor, have some scenes prior to the attack and are notable for one of the film's best sequences, when they shoot down several Japanese planes to defend the hospital, but we last see them still fighting, and audience members (unless they read before) don't get to find out whether they survived.
My dad always heckles me with Ben Affleck’s “HAMMER DOWN!” Thank goodness we have Tora instead. Some people think a missed opportunity was made to make Doris Miller the main character (i think a film about Miller and his fellow messmates would be interesting) as Cuba Gooding did the best he could with his short screen time, through it could be debated how accurate it is. As it stands, I'll take the more accurate, and humble, though no less heroic depiction of Doris Miller's actions (actor Elven Havard) in Tora Tora Tora, then Cuba Gooding's any day.
some very interesting points here. I didn't know much of this before, but I read this with interest. thank you for sharing.
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