Pearl Harbor deals with Ben Affleck, his best friend, and a girl. It also deals with the Japanese surprise bombing of Pearl Harbor and the Doolittle Raid.

I left Pearl Harbor with very mixed feelings. I felt like the director, Michael Bay (who also directed Armageddon), couldn’t make up his mind about what kind of movie to make. Half of the movie seems like it’s a soap opera. The other half is made up of battle sequences that come across as a mix of the gritty realism of Saving Private Ryan and the wacky fighter-pilot antics of Top Gun. The soap opera parts, consisting of the love triangle between Affleck, his friend, and the girl, are very cheesy and literally had me gagging at a few points during the film. The action sequences were very well directed, but they threw me off. Most of the Pearl Harbor sequence is pretty realistic (although less gory than Saving Private Ryan), but then there are a few parts that would work more in a Top Gun movie. This really annoyed me.

On the other hand, the acting was well done. Ben Affleck does a good job as the lead, Alec Baldwin is great as Doolittle, and John Voight makes a very convincing FDR. Cuba Gooding Jr. does a good job with what he has, but it seems like his part is wasted to an almost cameo status.

Pearl Harbor does attempt to flesh out the Japanese side a little bit—although I would have found a Romeo and Juliet style romance between Ben Affleck and a Japanese-American nurse (is she a traitor, is she not) set during Pearl Harbor more interesting. At least the Japanese aren’t like, “Ha ha ha! We are Japanese and are going to rule the world! Bow down to us!” I would have appreciated more of the Japanese perspective on Pearl Harbor, although I suppose that’s a personal quibble.

Pearl Harbor doesn’t live up to the hype, but it’s not as mindless as the trailers make it seem.

I give Pearl Harbor **1/2 out of ****.