pearl harbor production notes

7/30/2019 Pearl Harbor Production Notes

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On April 2, 2000 the studio and filmmakers, in tandem with the United States Navy,

held a special wreath laying ceremony in memory of the men and women who gave

their lives that fateful day Commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Thomas B. Fargo

and U.S. Park Ranger Kathy Billings of the Arizona Memorial hosted Walt Disney

Motion Pictures Group Chairman Dick Cook, Jerry Bruckheimer, Michael Bay Ben

Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and several members ofthe Hawaii and San Diego chapters of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association at the

Arizona Memorial site.

About The Production"The memorial service was a very emotional experience for all of us," describes

Affleck. "I had not been out to the site, so it hit me hard when I got off the launch and

walked across the Memorial looking down at the ship right below. It still leaks oil. It

feels very present and gives you a sense of the weight of the whole incident. Seeing

all the names listed on the wall in the shrine room, the sets of brothers and fathers and

sons. When taps was blown it was hard to keep your composure. It left me with a

reverential and awed feeling about being there."

"It plays on your mind when you see all those names," says Gooding. "When you

think of the thousands of men who died in minutes, it just attacks your soul. You

realize the responsibility of this movie and it makes everything easier as far as

duplicating the emotion."

Principal photography began in Oahu on Tuesday April 4 with a traditional blessing

by a local Hawaiian priest. The first scene shot was a poignant moment for many of

the crew who were seeing the Japanese aircraft-flying overhead for the first time. It

was one of those moments that takes you back to a place in time you have never been,when you suddenly realize you can imagine what it must have been like. It's the

moment when a giant shiver runs down your spine and you turn away because of the

lump in your throat.

Early in the morning, as a light breeze blows across the shore and the dew still

sparkles on the waving grass, a young mother hangs her wash on the line. She looks

up. Inexplicably a military plane painted with a large red dot on its side flies low

overhead, so low it seems as if she could simply raise her arm and touch its belly with

her fingertips. The insignia is unfamiliar, but she is not frightened, only amazed at the

sight. The roar of the engine is overwhelming. She cannot hear his comrades flying

close behind, but then she sees them, dozens of them, flying so low she can see the

faces of the men in the cockpits. They are Japanese. She is confused. They wave to

her children, not a greeting, but a warning for them to run and hide. And suddenly she

knows; it's just the beginning.

"Shooting in Hawaii was a magical experience," says Bay "There were so many of

those moments where it hits you and you realize where you are and what this movie

means to so many people. Looking down, under my director's chair, I remember

seeing the strafing marks on the cement where the bullets struck the ground. It was

literally right under my feet. It was an honor to actually shoot right where it all

happened. To me, there is something magical about that."


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Bay was also permitted to shoot underwater at the Arizona Memorial. No other

feature film crew has been allowed such access. "The most symbolic image at Pearl

Harbor is the sunken Arizona," says Bay "It sits forty feet below water and is the

resting place for more than 1,100 men. I thought we needed to see the ship as it is

today. Both the Navy and the National Park Service thought it was a good idea; that it

would do something for the monument and keep the memory alive.

"Diving there was eerie," he continues. "It's very murky, even today there is still a lot

of oil leaking from the ship. There is a lot of silt and algae, huge barnacles and

suddenly you see this porthole that still has the glass in it. But it really hit when I

came up over the deck, which looks like a coral reef, and saw this clear beautiful teak

deck. The stairways going down and the gnarled doors like a semi truck ripped them

open and at the bow of the ship these immense guns. It was quite an experience. It

gives you a great surge of emotion."

The largest and most dangerous section of the attack sequence was shot within days ofstart of production. For identification purposes the two bombing runs were

euphemistically dubbed Big Shot #1 and Big Shot #2. Both 1st and 2nd units

descended upon the Middle Loch of Pearl Harbor, setting up base camp at Victor

Dock. Several small boats and dinghies shuttled back and forth throughout the day

carrying cast, crew, dozens of stuntmen and extras as well as equipment to the US

Navy's inactive fleet moored in this inlet. Big Shot #1 entailed explosions on six

ships, each of which measured between 400-600 feet in length. It took special effects

coordinator John Frazier, his set coordinator Jim Schwalm and their special effects

crew a month to rig the fleet.

"We did several tests for Michael during pre production," says Frazier. "The

explosions he liked the best used dynamite, so we decided to go with high explosives.

We also used prima cord, a combination of the two and what's called a Kinepak,

which is a binary explosive or a two-part mixture that is non-volatile until you put the

two chemicals together. To get the velocity and height that Michael wanted, it's

actually the safest way to go because it's not subject to spark, it's subject to shock."

Frazier's crew used 700 sticks of dynamite, 2,000 feet of prima cord and 4,000 gallons

of gasoline to ignite the six ships. "That was real warm," he jokes. "The

pyrotechnicians were on the ships. They ignited everything from on board so we had

to have thousands of feet of fire line, hoses and fire extinguishers (C02 and foam),

and put everyone on respirators so they didn't inhale smoke."

His crew also used naphthalene to create the black smoke used extensively in the

bombing sequences and throughout production. This is the same nontoxic chemical

used in mothballs.

The Environmental Protection Agency was continuously on hand to oversee the

planning and execution of the bombing sequence. The production company went to

great pains to protect the habitat and wildlife in the area (which included specific fish,

birds and turtles) and even blocked off a freeway four miles away.


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Bay always had a clear picture in his mind of what he wanted in terms of the

sequence. He took his time placing the 12 Panavision cameras in position, operating

one himself, all the while synchronizing a ballet of more than 30 stuntmen, 90 extras,

9 aircraft, a camera ship and countless special effects crew sitting on detonators

placed strategically around the fleet. The marine department alone consisted of a 22-

foot whaler, three camera boats, an electric boat, three support boats, two jet skis, sixpicture boats, five production skiffs, nine small water shuttles and 13 special effects

boats.

"When the explosion happened, it was the biggest explosion I have ever seen in my

entire life," says director/producer Bay "Our special effects coordinator, John Frazier,

who has been around the special effects world for 40 years and was one of the

guys who worked on 'Apocalypse Now" he said, 'This is by far the biggest

explosion ever done for a film."'

Bay continues, "It was all done within 7 seconds. It was a recipe for disaster becausewe had planes flying around, we had a helicopter, we had a B-25, we had people in

the little boats, but everything was synchronized and it went off without a hitch. When

I was shooting, I just remember looking through the camera and thinking, 'Oh-my-

God!"'

"The explosion was so huge, I shook," Bay laughs. "You can see it in my camera

move. You can hear me talking into the camera. It was pretty funny because I just

could not believe how big this explosion was."

Although much of the battle sequence was done with live special effects, a great dealof the detail will be completed by Industrial Light & Magic. 2nd unit director and

visual effects supervisor Eric Brevig continues to oversee the process. He and his

crew conducted their own historical research, looking at available footage and old

photographs.

"The script didn't avoid anything, it was all there on the page," says Brevig. "I knew

that we didn't quite have the technology to do all it asked. But that's the fun of the

challenge, creating things that haven't been done before. Pearl Harbor today is a big

tourist site, but I was insistent that we actually go there and place the cameras where

they needed to be. You can see the land's shape and the geography of the area. Then

we have to paint out everything except the distant mountains and start layering in

synthetic battleships, attacking lanes and giant explosions.

"The use of miniatures or large set pieces was minimized because the scope of what

we had to create was so huge," he further explains. "We couldn't have built enough

things to film. We would make a computer-generated model of a boat or plane and

then duplicate it. In the case of the planes, hundreds of times, in the case of the ships,

a dozen or so, so that we could fill the entire harbor. We also filled the battleships

with synthetic sailors, each of whom is a computer generated character in a different

costume doing some precisely choreographed bit of activity."

Bay adds "'Pearl Harbor' contains an immense amount of real visuals that were donein camera, but it also has about 190 digital effects shots. My concept was to make the


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digital shots huge and do less of them. I feel you need to have a lot of real footage

shot through the camera, mixed in with a few digital effects to make it more visceral,

make it more realistic."

Brevig used illustrations and cartoon animatics to plan his basic camera moves. He

would work closely with David Nowell, the aerial unit director and with his owncameraman, Mitch Amundsen, on second unit to create lifelike scenarios that matched

Bay's vision.

Says Bay of his effects team's efforts, 'A big help was the animatic process that I

initiated four weeks after we started developing the movie's storyline. We worked

with a satellite image of Pearl Harbor and digitally created the battleships and the

planes. These were just crude cartoons, but the planes could actually fly around the

base, and I could create these moving, epic shots in my office with just a few guys. I

could literally envision a massive shot in my head at night, and see it realized on a

screen the next day"

Because the assault on Pearl Harbor was entirely an air offensive, the aerial

department took precedence during the shoot. Aerial coordinator Alan Purwin, chief

pilot Steve Hinton and aerial unit director David Nowell were in charge of the

particulars. Hinton, who is well known in aviation circles for owning a handsome

array of specialty aircraft, is also one of the film industry's best pilots.

"We had 14 aircraft up at one time," Bay states. "I've worked with planes before, Air

Force jets and the like, but this was the biggest and most aggressive use of aircraft I've

ever employed. Some of these aircraft are 60 years old and we were pushing them tothe limits, but we had very experienced pilots. As one Navy guy said about Steve,

'He's as good as it ever gets.' You're trusting these guys with your life. It's not just the

pilot, but the crew, the stuntmen and the actors who are facing danger. "I remember

we were shooting in a tower that was 16 stories tall and the plane had to come at us at

close to 200-mph. The plane had to turn and come right, banking around the tower.

He was literally 10 feet away from us. You put a lot of trust in these pilots," he says.

"For the amount of stuff we did, working on water, on land and in the air, and

combining them all together, I'm really proud that our safety record was impeccable

we only had one downed plane that resulted in a broken ring finger, a couple of

sprained ankles and wrist, a shoulder injury plus the requisite scrapes and bruises.

That's when you realize what the men who were really there went through."

The aircraft used in the film included a variety of 16 antique and replica aircraft,

including three replica Val dive bombers, three replica Kates and three Zeros for the

Japanese planes. The aerial department also utilized four P-40s, one DC3, four B-25s

and a Messerschmidt ME-109.

"The exact airplanes for this movie really aren't available at any price," explains pilot

Steve Hinton. "The Zero we were using, for instance, was a later model Zero, but it's

the only flying Zero in the world. The other two were fitted with American engines so

that they could fly They're beautiful planes. There are also no existing Kates or Vals,

which were the dive- bombers and the planes that carried the torpedoes that fly I don't

even think there are any in existence that are in one piece. In addition, we used a laterversion of the P-40 because there is only one of the earlier versions in existence that's


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flyable.

"We did our best to assemble what we could to be authentic," Hinton says. "We were

able to substitute airplanes that did the job well. For the real purist, no matter what

you do, it won't be right. The plane will be the wrong color or something like that. It

can't be perfect because the planes don't exist and if they do, they are part of amuseum collection where it is not worth putting a piece of history in jeopardy I don't

think audiences are going to see a better assembly of aircraft in a movie. Besides, the

real story here is the human story and the hardware is just enhancing it."

Production Notes

On November 26, 1941, 20 submarines and five midget subs followed by a combined

fleet of two battleships, three cruisers, 11 destroyers, six carriers, eight tankers, three

submarines and 423 planes left Tankan Bay in Japan. Heading east on a northerlyroute so as not to be discovered, they sailed for the United States and its westernmost

outpost, the Hawaiian Islands. During the trip Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto sent a

coded message to Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo: Niitaka yama nobore, Climb

Mount Nikita, which meant the mission was on. On December 2, Nagumo was

directed to open a top secret envelope which contained the directive stating that Japan

would, in several days, declare war on the United States, Britain and Holland.

At 6:45 a.m. on December 7 (December 8, Japanese time), the first wave of aircraft

took off from the deck of the Japanese command ship, the Akagi. Led by Commander

Mitsuo Fuchida, 183 bombers flew southeast for less than an hour until they reached

the northernmost shores of Oahu at Kahuku Point.

The first wave split into three groups. Fuchida with 89 Kates (one of three types of

aircraft used by the Japanese fleet) headed southwest around the island, heading

directly for Ford Island and Battleship Row. The second and third attack groups split

again, making their way over the Waialua Valley towards Schofield Barracks,

Wheeler Field, Ewa Marine Air Corps Station, Hickam Field, Bellows Field and

Kaneohe Bay

A second wave of 168 aircraft reached Oahu just after 8:40 a.m. for further strafing

runs on the American air bases. Eventually more than 350 Japanese Zeros, Kates andVals would fill the sky raining bombs and machine gun fire, leaving the United States

Pacific Fleet and much of the island in a state of destruction.

It is a tale of heroism on an epic scale as well as on a level of powerful personal

intimacy. But the cataclysm of December 7 is not the end. America's response to the

staggering emotional defeat at Pearl Harbor and subsequent defeats in the Pacific is to

create one of the most daring and unexpected military events in history: the bombing

of Tokyo through a suicide mission led by aviation legend Jimmy Doolittle (Alec

Baldwin). When Colonel Doolittle picks Rafe and Danny to be his key leaders on the

heroic raid, their lives and their love for Evelyn are once more at the center of this taleof passion and spectacular courage.


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Randall Wallace was convinced that the Doolittle Raid should bookend his cinematic

story. "Many people who know about Pearl Harbor and the broader aspects of World

War II do not know about the Doolittle Raid, although it was a turning point in the

morale of Americans," he explains. 'The raid over Tokyo was as unexpected by the

Japanese as Pearl Harbor was. It took a tremendous amount of courage because theleaders of the raid did their planning and preparations with the knowledge that the

odds were greatly against them. Had Doolittle and his men been overly concerned

about their personal fate, they would never have made the attempt. But there was

something more important to them than their individual survival. That's the definition

of courage.

Joining the production late in the game, Alec Baldwin proved to be a casting coup for

the filmmakers. 'We were lucky to get Alec," says Bruckheimer. "He's someone I've

always wanted to work with but just couldn't find the right role at the right time. He's

perfect for this part. He has the bearing of an officer, the authority and the strength. I

think it was also important that we found an actor of his caliber to do justice tosomeone like Jimmy Doolittle.

'We didn't know that much about Doolittle when we started," the producer admits.

"But then we were contacted by his historian and several family members and friends.

They helped to shape and define the man for us. He was one of the great heroes of his

day long before World War II. He was a record- breaking aviator, and like the sports

stars of today he was a household name. He was also a role model who took his

position seriously. His men are as devoted to him today as they were 60 years ago.

The Doolittle Raid was originally devised by a submarine captain brainstorming forideas to turn the tide of the war. Why not place Army bombers on the deck of an

aircraft carrier so as to get them close enough to Japan to launch a surprise attack on

an industrial Tokyo and her surrounding areas? The pilots could then beat a hasty

retreat to the easternmost borders of China. Unlikely as it sounded, the United States

Commanding General, Lt. General Henry Arnold, was an enthusiastic supporter of the

plan and hand picked then-Lt. Colonel Jimmy Doolittle to lead the mission.

If the probability of success was not remote enough, on April 18, 1942, Doolittle and

his men were forced to take off from the deck of the USS Hornet, 670 miles from the

coast of Japan, more than 150 miles farther out than the original plan advised.

Japanese fishing boats, which also acted as surveillance monitors, spotted the Hornet

and her escorts. Facing high seas and 40-knot winds, Doolittle was the first pilot to

take off. With 16 B-25s crowded on deck, his was the shortest take-off, a sight as yet

never seen by the Navy men who cheered him and his crew on.

Fifteen of the sixteen bombers made it to China, four crash landing and 11 bailing out.

One plane was able to make it to the USSR where the Soviets impounded the B-25

and incarcerated her crew. Every aircraft was lost. Eight crewmen were captured and

became Japanese prisoners of war, two drowned while trying to swim ashore after

crashing into the ocean and one man died parachuting from his aircraft. Although a

devastated Doolittle thought his mission a complete failure, it was, in fact, aresounding success that gave the United States and her allies renewed hope.


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Doolittle was elevated to Brigadier General, leapfrogging over the rank of colonel.

President Roosevelt personally presented him with the Medal of Honor. Ever self-

effacing, Doolittle was proud yet embarrassed by all the fuss. He was not only a

much- admired commander and combat leader but he was also an innovative and

skilled airman who simply loved to fly. Today so many years after his death in 1993at the age of 96, he still engenders immense respect from the men who were part of

that near- impossible mission.

Baldwin acted as a guardian of the Doolittle legacy "Sometimes films strain to

mythologize characters and make them more heroic than they really are," he says.

"But you couldn't possibly do that with Doolittle. We couldn't have made him more

heroic. He was probably one of the most valiant, dauntless and courageous men I've

ever encountered. He is on par with Lindbergh and MacArthur.

"When I was preparing for the role, speaking to many people in the military and told

them that I was playing Doolittle, they all told me how lucky I was" Baldwin adds."They were excited for me. That says a great deal about the man.

Michael Bay recalls a day on board the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi, Texas, just

before they would shoot the scene recreating the take-off of the B- 25 bombers. "I was

always telling the younger actors to use the pilots that were standing around to help

them prepare for the scene because we had some of the best pilots and some great old

aircraft at our disposal. Next thing I knew, I find Alec Baldwin sitting up in the

cockpit going over all this lingo and air terminology. He was just sitting there, boning

up on the basics. You should have heard the litany of terms he started reeling off. He

sounded like the consummate pilot. He'd been talking to the vets and stunt pilots andbasically given himself a crash course in piloting a B-25. That's the work of a great

actor."

About The Characters

"We try to show the essence of what happened there," Bay reiterates. "We follow the

lives of four people Rafe, Danny, Evelyn and Dorie through this event. It's not

just a movie about Pearl Harbor, it's really about the essence of a volunteer. How you

put your heart in for your country. As Jimmy Doolittle says in a speech when he's

talking about the raid on Tokyo, 'I don't know if we're going to win this mission, but

we are going to win this war.' And the person he's talking to asks 'How do you know?'

And Doolittle says, 'Because of them,' indicating his men. 'Because there's nothing

stronger than the heart of a volunteer.' That's really what this movie is about for me.

"In a moment's notice we will give our lives for our country," Bay adds, summing up

the sentiment of the soldiers he met. "That's how these men thought, from the biggest

flying ace to the guy swabbing the deck. Your country first, your family second, your

work third. Those were pretty unshakable values."

"Pearl Harbor" is an epic love story set in the days when nations made the devastating

leap from peace to world war. The story follows two daring young pilots, RafeMcCawley (Ben Affleck) and Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett), who grew up like


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brothers and first learned to fly in the daring and dangerous aviation practice of crop-

dusting; now they both have become pilots in the U.S. Army Air Corps.

The filmmakers wanted these characters to embody a global sense of responsibility

and a personal desire to do the right thing. "There was a spirit among the people who

fought in World War II that if they weren't there, getting the job done, somebody elsewas going to have to do it, therefore they chose to be there," says Wallace. "That

spirit cannot be ignored."

"Danny and Rafe are amalgams of many people," says actor Ben Affleck. "My

character, for example, is representative of everything that could happen to someone

in the war. He enlists in the United States Army Air Corps and then joins Britain's

Royal Air Force, as many pilots from neutral countries did. He and Danny get up in

planes and shoot down several Japanese aircraft during the attack just like two real

flyers, Welch and Taylor, did. Lieutenants George Welch and Kenneth Taylor were

credited with shooting down six of the 29 Japanese aircraft lost in the attack. WhileWelch and Taylor did not take part in the subsequent Doolittle raid, Rafe and Danny

do. There's nothing dishonest in that it's all for the sake of the narrative."

To prepare for his role Affleck not only spent a week in Army Ranger boot camp with

his fellow actors, but he also took the time to reread his history. He spent countless

hours with various historians, technical advisors and military personnel working with

the production and spoke with many veterans from the period. Among his chief

concerns was the desire to create a plausible and universally appealing film.

"I wouldn't have taken the role if I thought the film was jingoistic propaganda,"Affleck says. "We tried to be fair and honest. The Japanese are presented as honorable

people with a certain point of view. They felt threatened by the United States and did

what they felt they had to do at the time. We have a great responsibility to honor all

the parties involved."

"Ben's ability to adapt himself to the character and to create a real person from the

page is amazing," says Bruckheimer. "He's also a wonderful writer which is

invaluable because he comes to the set with so much creativity and shares it with

everyone. He's very generous with his ideas and takes great care with the entire

project. I was especially impressed with Ben's devotion to the veterans who came to

visit the set. We were all humbled in their presence, but Ben went out of his way to

spend time with everyone he could.

"There is always a new wave of actors who are going to be the superstars of

tomorrow, and Ben is one of them," Bruckheimer concludes. "This is Ben's time. You

want to watch him on screen, you want to be him, and that's what being a movie star

is all about."

Bay, who previously directed Affleck in "Armageddon," is simple in his praise. "This

is his best performance ever. He has tremendous potential, he is charismatic and I just

think it's his best performance." Rafe's best friend, Danny Walker, is portrayed by a

relative newcomer, Josh Hartnett. A favorite of the crew, Hartnett was a warm,welcome presence on set. He seemed to personify the ideal of the young soldier of the


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1940s. "Josh is quiet but strong," says Bruckheimer. "He's a throwback to the old

Hollywood legends, a cross between Gary Cooper and Montgomery Clift. I don't

know if it's because he's from Minnesota and the heartland, but he possesses this

ability to make you feel like everything's going to be all right when he walks into the

room. He has a substantial role and we knew he could handle the burden. He's very

professional for someone so young.

"It's strange to think that at my age I would have been one of the older pilots in my

squadron," says 22-year-old Hartnett. "My great uncle fought in D-Day and he was a

ranking officer at 19. Most of these guys were younger than I am now. I wouldn't

know where to begin to deal with what they went through. You can still feel the

emotion from those men when you meet them; it's one of those moments you never

forget."

"What makes Danny's character exciting is that he already has a personal sense of

what war is before the fight begins," says Wallace. "He has watched his father, whowas in World War I, suffer because of it and he wants no part of that hell. Danny has

seen the living dead."

Rafe falls in love with Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale), a beautiful and courageous

nurse serving in the U.S. Navy But their love has only just begun to bloom when their

personal destiny and that of a world on the brink of war intervenes.

British actress Kate Beckinsale took on the role of Evelyn by delving into history

books not only about Pearl Harbor, but also about the often-overlooked contributions

of nurses. She also spent time with military nurses and was even able to practice a fewprocedures.

"When we were in Hawaii I was allowed to give some shots to people, not with drugs,

just saline," Beckinsale reports. "So in the inoculation scene, there were some poor

naked volunteer bottoms that I pierced. By the end of the scene I'd become really

confident, but then the last one leapt into the air. They were really very brave," she

laughs.

On a more serious note, Beckinsale was ever mindful of the horrible position the

nurses and doctors were in during the time of the attack. "Their resources were so

limited. They had to make do with whatever was at hand to take care of truckloads

upon truckloads of injured and dying delivered to the hospital doorstep. Even

painkillers were rationed. It must have been a horrific experience for everyone."

Both Bruckheimer and Bay wanted an actress with a certain charm and glamour for

the role. "The thing I like about Kate is her universal appeal," says Bay. "Women

really like her, and it's so important that women like your female lead. Kate has a

great innocence about her, but she also has great strength. I think that's what appeals

to both men and women. She also has an incredible look for the period."

When Rafe meets Evelyn he is immediately smitten, but Evelyn is not so certain

about his intentions. "He's kind of cheeky with her," Beckinsale says of Affleck'scharacter. "He's very determined and at first she's not having it. From the books I


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read, nurses had to build up a fairly thick skin because there was always a great group

of men in their underwear with jokes flying around, so they did have to fend off the

boys a little bit. But Rafe is very persistent and quite charming and has a good sense

of humor so she lets him woo her."

Bold and idealistic, Rafe joins the Eagle Squadron, a group of Americans, Canadians,Australians, Swedes and others from neutral countries who volunteer to fight

alongside English pilots during the Battle of Britain. Leaving his new love and his

best friend behind, with the promise that he will return, he heads off for the deadly

skies above the English Channel, while both Evelyn and Danny are transferred to

Hawaii's idyllic paradise Pearl Harbor.

"Danny doesn't have it as easy as Rafe," Hartnett explains. "He has to make his own

way in life, but Rafe does influence his decisions. The two of them protect each other

and depend on one another, so when Rafe decides to join the Eagle Squadron and

never tells Danny, the bond and the sense of loyalty between them is broken."

Evelyn is equally dismayed with Rafe's decision to put himself in harm's way "She is

totally devastated when he leaves," says Beckinsale. "He is the love of her life."

"My film professor at Wesleyan, Jeanine Basinger, always told me that in a woman's

life there is always that one love," says Bay. "A love you wish you could have had

and for some reason you had to let them go. That idea really stuck with me and that's

what this relationship is all about, that one great love."

Before December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor is heaven. Although Danny and Evelyn don'tinitially take advantage of being stationed in such a tranquil spot, their comrades and

friends make the best of it. Here Rafe and Danny's pal, Red (Ewen Bremner) finds a

nurse of his own, Betty (James King). Billy (William Lee Scott), another pilot from

their training days in New York, and several nurses including Barbara (Catherine

Kellner) and Sandra (Jennifer Garner) are also transferred out west. There, they meet

Earl (Tom Sizemore), an airplane mechanic extraordinaire and Gooz (Michael

Shannon), a flying surf hound, among the new

Stationed on the USS West Virginia docked at Ford Island is seaman third class, mess

attendant Dorie Miller (Cuba Gooding, Jr.). A controversial figure, Miller

posthumously received the Navy Cross for shooting down two Japanese aircraft after

saving the life of his captain during the attack. He was one of the first African-

Americans honored by the United States government for his valor. In an ironic

tragedy Miller was killed in another battle during World War II when the ship on

which he was serving sank.

"I play one of the few real life characters in the movie," says Gooding, who is used to

taking on the challenge of portraying real life heroes. "As a cook, Dorie was not

allowed to handle weaponry so he never had any formal training on the big 50-caliber

antiaircraft machine guns he used, but he jumped on it and did it anyway"

After the attack, Miller did not immediately come forward to acknowledge his heroicsbecause the machine guns, which required water to function properly had burned out.


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Like many of the service men who lost or accidentally misused equipment during the

melee, Miller was concerned he would be admonished for destroying military

property. "Whether or not he shot down one or two planes, or no planes at all, he was

a brave and honorable man who risked his life for his fellow sailors and his country,

as did so many others," says Bruckheimer.

"Dorie Miller could really be any person in that attack," suggests Bay "Historians,

writers, even Navy documents cannot really agree on much of the exact history of this

event. People's memories dim and change shape as the years go by. Everyone has a

different opinion. All we can do is listen to the historians and survivors and come to

our own conclusions. Dorie Miller's story is just one of those. As far as I can see, he

had a real part in changing the course of how blacks in the military were viewed after

what he did."

Danny, Evelyn, Dorie and the other residents of Pearl Harbor carry on their placid

lives, unaware of the overwhelming forces moving toward them; the stupendousattack upon Pearl Harbor by the combined air and naval forces of Imperial Japan will

soon shatter their world and alter history.

Another great actor to join the ranks of the film is the familiar face of veteran thespian

Jon Voight. His face, however, might not be so recognizable hidden beneath the mask

of make-up he wears when he dons his role as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Special effects make-up artists Will Huff and Fionagh Cush from the Stan Winston

Studios transformed Voight over a 6-hour period each morning.

Bruckheimer, who has worked with Voight before, insists that audiences will not beable to recognize the actor. "Jon makes you believe he is Roosevelt so that you aren't

even thinking about the actor beneath the make-up," he says.

"He looks and sounds just like Roosevelt, he really nailed the part. It's funny that so

many people cannot quite place the face; even some of the crew were unaware of who

he was.

"Jon actually called and asked to play Roosevelt," says Bruckheimer "He's an

armchair historian and knows more about the man than any of us. That type of

preparation is invaluable."

"I've never seen an actor care so much about three days' work," says Bay "I'd also

never seen an actor get a round of applause from all the other actors in the room

seven times they cheered him after he did the scene in the presidential office with his

cabinet. That's pretty amazing."

Voight's older brother, Barry, who teaches at Penn State University, recommended

that Jon read the Pulitzer Prize-winning book No Ordinary Time. "After reading this

book and others that Barry recommended, I was encouraged to seek out the role of

FDR," the actor says. "I really wanted it to be portrayed properly The remarkable

thing about FDR for me was how he sustained being under such enormous pressure.

How does one live in an atmosphere of tremendous strain for a continuous period oftime? And that's what the Presidency of the United States is, if the person in that seat


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is taking clear responsibility. It takes character and energy. How did this guy do it?

He didn't have wings, he couldn't stand and yet he carried everybody I was very

moved by that.

"Roosevelt suffered every moment of drama throughout his presidency especially

Pearl Harbor," continues Voight. "It was a devastating blow to him but he was able torebound. FDR was a righteous man, tremendously clever with his abilities, his

personality and influence and eloquence. He was negotiating with Japan for peace in

the Pacific when the attack happened. He felt he had personally failed the American

people and the men in the service."

The moment when Roosevelt is informed about the attack is portrayed with dramatic

license in the film. "It actually happened in his bedroom," says Voight. "But we did it

in another area of the White House. We've recreated the metaphor of truth. The alarm

of the response that went off in Washington is represented in the way Michael shot

this piece. I only hope that my interpretation of that moment is equally asappropriate."

Commander in Chief of The Imperial Japanese Navy, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is

played by Academy Award-nominated actor Mako. Mako, who was born and raised

in Japan until he was 15 years old, was only in second grade when the navy's

combined fleet attacked Pearl Harbor. "I remember going to school in the morning. I

think it was Monday and feeling there was a strange atmosphere. Everybody was

talking in whispers: We started a war with America. I remember thinking, 'War? What

does that mean?' I had seen footage of the war with China, all the destruction. I

realized that's what war meant. It was as if I got hit in the solar plexus and couldn'tbreathe. A kind of fear and panic overtook my body"

Mako was pleased with the global vision the film presents. "Historically Hollywood

pictures about World War II depict the Japanese as the evil side," he explains. "That's

too much to cope with. Every war is started for a reason, usually economic, and in

that sense this picture depicts the Japanese side in a fair light. There is no evil

blackness about any of the characters."

Although Mako is not a history buff, he was aware of Yamamoto's background.

Educated at Harvard, Yamamoto had served as a naval attache to various Japanese

embassies, including the United States. When Japan first considered war with

America, Yamamoto objected and was very vocal about his position against a strike.

"He was well learned in terms of Western culture," notes Mako. "So many from the

military, admirals and generals, became ministers in the cabinet and steam-rolled the

politics of that time. They had no perception of Western culture or attitudes and didn't

understand Western resources. In that sense Yamamoto was up against the wall and

outnumbered. Since it was inevitable that they were going to war, he did his job with

the utmost."

World-renowned actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa plays Commander Minoru Genda.

Tagawa was born in Japan but raised in the United States. His father was a local boyfrom Hawaii who joined the military just before the end of World War II and became


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a career soldier and whose children were raised on Army posts throughout the world.

Tagawa's mother's family fought for Japan; sadly none of her relatives who served in

the Japanese Navy and Army survived. With such a background, Tagawa's viewpoint

is somewhat unique.

"This film does justice to both sides," the actor notes. "It honors both the Japanese andthe Americans. I especially like how Michael takes the time to create an emotional

tone without dialogue. It expresses so much and that's critical for the Japanese

because they have that same emotional makeup. It's not about talking, it's about doing

and feeling. I think Michael paid attention to that aspect of the culture.

"The sense of respect and honor in the military really comes through," Tagawa

continues. "That particular time in Japanese history was very unusual. It may have

been the first time that a character like mine, a lieutenant commander, actually

worked directly with an admiral. The structure of the Japanese military was incredibly

rigid, but Yamamoto was a renegade, he was not so much about the rules. He wasahead of his time. In the same way Genda was a samurai; he knew it was important

that his pilots make it back after the attack. He also came up with the idea of putting

wooden fins on the torpedoes so that when they dropped, rather than submerging 70-

90 feet, they would only go to a depth of 45 feet, which is what caused such

destruction. The Americans were not prepared. Genda was a brilliant strategist.

"Pearl Harbor is such a sensitive issue for my parents' generation," Tagawa sums up.

"It's not something you want to make an issue of again, other than to pay homage to

everyone who fought and died. In doing some of these big scenes, it's important to

convey the strong feelings each of those guys had for their country, albeit differentsides. I hope it will be a great tribute."

The Japanese military of the time spoke in a very specific dialect using a military

vocabulary all its own. Many of the Japanese actors who were fluent in colloquial

Japanese were unfamiliar with the formal dialogue. Mike Sogawa acted as the

Japanese dialogue coach and sometime translator during the filming. The production

not only employed a specialist with regard to dialogue, but also a special costumer

who also works as a freelance technical advisor. Dick Lamott is an in- house historian

who worked on "Tora, Tora, Tora."

Introduction

For Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay, the making of "Pearl Harbor" was a

dedicated pursuit. Sometimes an uphill battle, the duo was determined against all odds

to make the film, and despite the immenseness of the production and the complicated

logistics involved in such an undertaking, Disney Studios moved forward on the

project.

Both producer and director are history buffs, both are fascinated by true stories and

everyday heroes. With the help and creativity of Academy Award-nominatedscreenwriter Randall Wallace, they were able to fashion a fictional story about


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ordinary people living through real-life extraordinary circumstances. The filmmakers

are quick to point out that this film is not a documentary, but rather a tribute to those

men and women who have gone before us.

"Pearl Harbor is certainly a seminal event in history," says Bruckheimer. "It stands

out as one of America's worst tragedies, but it also reminds us that we can rise fromthe ashes and go on to triumph.

"This film is a departure for us," he explains. "Although it's a story of friendship and

romance, overall it is a serious piece about the heart of the men and women, military

and civilian, who lived through this period. Pearl Harbor galvanized the American

people. We were not prepared for war. Boys became men overnight and nothing

would ever be the same again. The Japanese as well were fighting for the survival of

their homeland," Bruckheimer further clarifies. "You cannot forget there was an oil

embargo against Japan and they felt they had to do something drastic. As is the case

with many military expeditions, the Japanese soldiers did not know where they wereheaded until their mission was well underway. Taking all this into consideration, we

wanted to create an entertaining movie, but moreover we wanted to capture the

essence of that time in hopes of honoring those brave people."

"As a dramatist, I was not interested in writing this story if it was going to be about

the inner workings of Washington politics," adds screenwriter Randall Wallace,

whose initial exposure to Pearl Harbor was largely through hearing his parents discuss

the attack and how it affected their lives. "I don't really believe that's where history

happens. I believe the fate of the world lies in the hands of each individual. Tolstoy

said that one man throwing his rifle down, running back through the army screaming,'We are lost, we've been betrayed,' will panic the group. But one man picking up the

battle flag, running toward the enemy screaming, 'Rally!' can rally an entire regiment.

I see heroism as something real and tangible. I wanted to write about that."

Many of the Pearl Harbor survivors who visited the set have never spoken about their

experiences. Some who came brought along their children and grandchildren. Very

quietly these survivors would begin to share their stories with the crew Extras, many

of whom were young enlisted men themselves would gather round. Dressed in

tattered military uniforms or skivvies or covered head to foot in oil, they would form a

circle around the older men to listen

"We'd watch adult children dumbfounded as their fathers spoke," remembers

Bruckheimer. "They'd recount their tragic memories. On more than one occasion you

would hear people whisper that through the years their father had refused to speak of

his experience or that they simply never knew what their parent had gone through.

There were a lot of tears from both generations."

"Everyone reads about Pearl Harbor in history books, but we don't really study it in

depth," says Bay. "I think the thing that really got me hooked into wanting to make

this movie was when I met with a large group of Pearl Harbor survivors down in San

Diego. When you look into these 80-year-old guys' eyes and they bare their souls and

tell you what it was all about, for me that was a story that had to be told. When I heardtheir stories and learned what happened during the attack, I realized what it meant


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when people said America's innocence was lost. Every one of those men and women

was heroic."

For Wallace, who accompanied Bay to San Diego, these personal anecdotes were

more than entertaining stories, they were a sort of special history lesson. "Pearl

Harbor was no longer an abstraction. It was no longer a story of ideas; it was a storyof flesh and blood. Life can come at you in a massive, unexpected way and Pearl

Harbor was an event of indescribable proportions. That's why stories about love,

sacrifice and heroism are so important to us. They bring the world back to those

internal, personal ideals that are eternal to us all."

"The great thing about making movies like this is that it affords us the ability to

become involved in incredibly interesting subject matter," says Bruckheimer. "You

research the subject, you talk to survivors, you read, you listen to old radio broadcasts

and watch other films and documentaries. You educate yourself. And then you do

your best to come up with a screenplay that's romantic, entertaining, humorous andyet has depth and pathos, and shows the tragedy that so many families went through.

We tried to encompass all of that in 'Pearl Harbor.' We tried to be accurate, but it's

certainly not meant to be a history lesson."

When Wallace was asked to come up with a story surrounding the events of

December 7,1941, he not only had to decide where to frame the story but he also had

to create specific characters that the audience would care about.

"The fundamental question was, where does the story of Pearl Harbor really begin?"

explains Wallace. "I chose the war in Europe, specifically the Battle of Britain,because I wanted the story to encompass the idea that people were already fighting,

but America was trying to stay out of it. The thought was 'It's not our problem,' but all

that changed in a couple of hours in December. Once the attack happens, what

completes the story? In my reading I became excited about Doolittle's Raid, an event

much less famous than Pearl Harbor, but powerfully connected with it. The courage

and determination demonstrated in that action struck me as the essential response of

Americans to the attack made upon their spirits at Pearl Harbor.

"But even more important than the plot was the characters," Wallace continues. "I

wanted to write about the kind of people who said, A fight's coming, and I'm not

going to wait for it to come to me.' I wanted write about the heroism suddenly

required of a nurse who has never seen a battlefield injury before, who suddenly has

thousands of dying men on her hands. So I invented characters and a story, and went

in and told it to Jerry, Michael and the studio, and suddenly I had a deal. We all got

excited and started bouncing ideas off each other."

Wallace's method of putting together his first draft is, for some, rather unorthodox. "I

sometimes offend people when I tell them this, but it's true," he says. "I do in-depth

research after I've written my first draft. The reason I work this way is that I want to

know why I should tell a story before I decide how to tell a story, and the why is

about people. If you know why someone goes to war, if you know whom they love

and how they love, you know about them. Then you can find out whether they flew P-


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40s or whether they wore leather helmets and goggles. But if you become too

fascinated by superficial details, you miss the essence of the truth."

Pearl Harbor

Director Michael Bay's films are typically filled with spectacular crashes, and forDisney'sPearl Harbor, that tradition continues. ButPearlgoes further, with dazzling

crack-ups that were scarcely photographed at all-they were crafted instead within thecomputers at ILM.

In one such crash, a Japanese plane is hit as it approaches a Pearl Harbor tower. Itbanks out of control, skids along a rooftop, and slams into the tower about 20 feetfrom the viewer.

You see the tower crumpling, the wings coming off the plane, and its ribs showingthrough its torn outer skin, explains ILM associate visual effects supervisor BenSnow. It's lit up by an explosion and catches fire, and flaming debris showers to theground. And it's all right in your face.

The background plate delivered to ILM had almost none of this detail.

When the plate was shot at Pearl Harbor, the practical effects crew used a carlaunching rig to fire a plane wing at the building, Snow recalls. They also set off anexplosion, which we enhanced with computer-generated and practical explosions. Butthe plane, and all the flaming bits flying off it, are CG.

ILM used Alias Studio, Maya, and Softimage for basic modeling. At the point wherethe plane breaks up, artists switched to an identical version of the plane that wasrigged for simulation.

It's a model made of a few hundred pieces that tie together with what we call

springs of different forces, says Snow. Those springs give way when the planehits a certain force. It's fairly physically modeled on what would really happen.Essentially we broke the plane into small components so it could link togetherarbitrarily and the animator could control the stress points in the plane.

In addition to ILM's rigid-body simulation tool, Zeno, which allows animators tobreak apart complex models, artists used the studio's Caricature software to deformgeometry and create crumpling effects.

We didn't always want to do that procedurally because we wanted to sculpt and art-direct it, says Snow. We would take that animation into Zeno and do the dynamics,and then bring that back into Maya so we could tweak the animation.

ILM had to rework its simulation tool to create a complex plane crash with 300 to1,000 pieces. Artists would then enhance those initial parts with secondary material,such as the ribs of the plane and engine parts. ILM even simulated the flutter that flatsurfaces like plane wings would exhibit in reality.

Artists created the huge burst of debris using Maya particle simulation, with littlepieces of 3D geometry replacing each particle.

We developed a lot of new smoke simulation tools for this production, notes Snow.We took bits of debris and created CG fire that trailed off them with CG smoke. So

there are plummeting, fiery objects that add layers of complexity to the scene.


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ILM also advanced its lighting techniques forPearl Harbor. Sequence supervisorHayden Landis led a team in developing Ambient Environment Lights, which allowedartists to achieve radiosity-like effects efficiently.

We developed a Mental Ray shader that, for every point on the surface of a model,

would go out into the environment and ask, How much of the outside world do Isee? Landis explains. The plane wing, for example, didn't see anything but sky.But for a piece of the engine, the ray may only see 10% of the world, so it only gets10% of the available light. That information, along with information on the directionof the light, yielded something that looked, for all intents and purposes, like radiosity.Because these Mental Ray passes worked like texture maps, they could be used inRenderMan, ILM's primary rendering tool.

This ambient environment lighting definitely helped us create CG models withbelievable-looking glints and reflections, Snow notes. When you're dealing withoutdoor photography, which this film mostly is, it's more challenging. The sky actslike a huge illumination source, and CG is not great at modeling large, diffusesources.

Once the plane was rendered in RenderMan and the CG explosions were renderedwith ILM's proprietary rendering software, the compositing team integrated the CGand practical explosions with the original explosion in the plate, and then wrapped theexplosions around the CG object. Snow adds that artists had to replace the skycompletely as it didn't look right in the original plate.

And Michael Bay was always asking us to add more war, so we added smokecolumns and other planes flying around in the background, recalls Snow. After we'dgone through all the rendering and compositing, we still had some weird cracks in the

geometry, which our roto team had to touch up, generally using Matador andCommotion on Macs.

Snow believes such efforts were essential, given the subject matter.

Pearl Harbor is a gritty historical drama and not an escapist action movie, so itrequires a huge degree of realism. Because there are so many practical effects in thefilm that are all realistic, there's no forgiveness for our effects work it has to looklike they did this for real.

Credit Roll

Director: Michael BayVisual Effects Supervisor: Eric BrevigPractical Effects Supervisor: John FrasierAssociate Visual Effects Supervisor: Ben SnowSequence Supervisor: Hayden LandisAnimator: Paul KavanaughTechnical Director: Craig HammackRigid Body Animation Supervisor: Scott BenzaCompositor: R.J. WilliamsViewpaint Artist: Tony SommersMatch Mover: Wendy Hendrickson

Rotoscope Artists: Katie Baird


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Shader Development: Hayden Landis, Ken McGaugh, Hilmar KochSoftware Development: Jim Hourihan, Jeffery Yost, John Anderson

Pearl Harbor:

The Director's CutVista Seriesreview by Zach B.

Rating: R (For Strong War Violence and Some Language)

Running Time: 184 minutes
http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_item.asp?item_id=38935&partner_id=69211977


19/36

Starring: Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, Jon Voight, Cuba Gooding,Jr., Tom Sizemore and Alec Baldwin

Written by: Randal Wallace

Directed by: Michael Bay

Studio: Disney

Retail Price: $39.95

Features:

Disc 1: Audio Commentary with Director Michael Bay and Film HistorianJeanine Basinger, Audio Commentary with Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Ben

Affleck, Alec Baldwin and Josh Hartnett, Audio Commentary with

Cinematographer John Schwartzman, Production Designer Nigel Phelps,

Costume Designer Michael Kaplan, Supervising Art Director Martin Laing and

Composer Hans Zimmer, Why Letterbox?, THX Optimizer

Disc 2: Audio Commentary with Director Michael Bay and Film Historian JeanineBasinger, Audio Commentary with Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Ben Affleck, AlecBaldwin and Josh Hartnett, Audio Commentary with Cinematographer John

Schwartzman, Production Designer Nigel Phelps, Costume Designer Michael Kaplan,Supervising Art Director Martin Laing and Composer Hans Zimmer, Faith Hill MusicVideo "There You'll Be", National Geographic Beyond The Movie "Pearl Harbor"Preview, Journey To The Screen: The Making of "Pearl Harbor", THX Optimizer

Disc 3: Production Diary, Boot Camp, Super 8 Footage, Theatrical Teaser, TheatricalTrailer, One Hour Over Tokyo, Unsung Hereoes Of Pearl Harbor, Oral History: TheRecollections Of A Pearl Harbor Nurse

Disc 4: Interactive Attack Sequences, Deconstructing Deconstruction: AConversation on Visual Effects with Michael Bay and Eric Brevig, Animatic Attack,Interactive Timeline, Gallery. DVD-ROM: Pearl Harbor Definitive Bibilography

Specs: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English Dolby Digital 5.1, English DTS 5.1,French Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Headphone, English Subtitles, SpanishSubtitles, Chapter Selection (44 Scenes), Four-Disc Set, THX Certified

Released: July 2nd, 2002


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Somehow, I missed the onslaught of "Pearl Harbor." Despite all the marketing, all thehype, all the terrible reviews, the horrible reaction from some filmgoers and immense

praise from other filmgoers, I never did get my chance to see the film. I do admit I didwant to see the film when it opened in theaters during May 2001, but I suppose thethree hour running time (sometimes I do have trouble sitting during movies) and all

the negative reaction did turn me off a little. And yes, I even missed the film duringits first DVD and video release during December 2001. While "Pearl Harbor" has now

become an entertainment industry punchline, I still did have some desire to see thefilm. I figured why not wait for the ultimate Vista Series release? I'd be able to checkout the Director's Cut, and see it the way it was meant to be seen: the more intensevision of Michael Bay, an exploration of big budget filmmaking and some

preconceived notion that it's one of the greatest movies of all time given what's in thepackage. If I was going to see it, I was going to see it in some major crazy style.

"Pearl Harbor" is supposed to be some gung-ho historical epic, used as a majorbackdrop for a fictional character love triangle. It's supposed to bring history alive and

make a detailed account of a fatal and sad day in American history, using a mixture offictional characters and real life historical heroes as an excuse for that. People areinterested in seeing major historical events come to life using the money, magic and

power of Hollywood, but they also like stories that they get all sympathetic for, tryingto connect with the plight of the characters and tug at the heart strings. It has to besome equal balance. You need a story and characters to go in a film, as it just can't berandom bits of history slapped together. So, one compliments the other to try andmake it work.

We can relate to history (though some more than others, namely, people who'veexperienced events more closely and direct than other people) and we all do likestories, right? But let's face it, when the public goes to see a film called "PearlHarbor" they want to see just that: air attacks, explosions, people dying and themadness of war. Yes, Pearl Harbor itself is a backdrop for the film's story, but it's avery important as well: it drives the characters, what happens, the historical portionsand in some sense, is one of the hearts in the story and makes the movie what it's allabout. But I suppose a lot of what I described just rules for mass market, mainstreamHollywood entertainment, pleasing everyone in the correct way and doing that

balance. Of course, while all of those elements are needed, there is a differencebetween doing it right and doing it wrong. On how it was all done, I'm sorta mixed.

"Pearl Harbor" tells the story of two lifelong friends, Rafe McCawley (Ben Affleck)and Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett). The two grow up together and become pilots, whoare the best of the best. Rafe is invited to fight in World War II for the British, and atthe tests, Rafe meets a nurse named Evelyn Stewart (Kate Beckinsale). They fall inlove, and Rafe is called to fight. His plane is shot done, and after he's not heard from,everyone presumes he's dead. Danny comforts Evelyn, and they have a fling going.But then Rafe comes back alive, the tragic events of Pearl Harbor hits, and as theirlives will change, so will everyone else's.

A lot of you probably have seen "Pearl Harbor" and have come to your ownconclusions. Personally, I really did enjoy it. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't as bad as

everyone made it out to be. While the film didn't set any box office records on fire(and to a disappointed Disney, hoping for a monster hit, it only inched its way to


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nearly 200 million dollars), it still set other records. For one thing, it's gone down inhistory as the biggest movie ever to be greenlit, with a whopping 135 million dollarsor so. And yes, when many people think of other Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimerromp, they think one thing and one thing only: mindless popcorn entertainment with

big budget special effects, lavish production values and explosions. Major explosions.

There a lot of you out there who probably do despise the work of Michael Bay, but ifthere's one thing, you can't deny the guy's passion and love of filmmaking. I think theguy really knows how to make a film no matter what, and has some really great skills.The camerawork he employs on the film is very stylish and bold, giving off some finesweeping shots that are pretty epic and give off a fine sense of the sets, costumes,actors, locations and detail. You get a sense of a lot. There are a lot of shots in thismovie, and a lot of really good ones too, and you really have to give the man credit. Ifelt the three hours actually went by pretty fast, and while the script isn't exactly even,he makes the best of what's offered here. The film's editing is great too.

I thought the actors did a really good job in their roles. Ben Affleck's southern accentis very nice and he puts a strong command and strength behind Rafe, with a boldsense of eagerness. He shares great chemistry with Kate Beckinsale and with JoshHartnett. Beckinsale's American accent and innocence as a woman who is put

between tough choices works, while Hartnett is also strong and noble-hearted asDanny, also with a nice accent. The supporting players are fine too. Jon Voight isquite versatile and even a little inspiring as FDR, while Cuba Gooding, Jr. is fine inhis brief role as Dorie Miller. Tom Sizemore and Alec Baldwin (who plays Col.Doolittle) also bring punch and a fine sense to their roles as well. It's a pretty fine, ifuneven ensemble.

Given the giant budget, the special effects are the best out there. The wizards behindIndustrial Light and Magic re-create the tragic events of December 7th with multiplelayers and slick computer animation. The stunts and explosions that are shot and then

put together with the special effects are pretty amazing too, making the film a bitamazing to watch, but still rather realistic which is no easy task. The locations andsets are very 1940s and feel realistic too, all with a fine, if somewhat standard heroicHans Zimmer score to top it all off (but it certainly fits).

When it comes down to it, I guess the blame for the films flaw shouldn't always be onMichael Bay, but screenwriter Randall Wallace. We should cut Wallace some slack...

he certainly hasn't written terrible movies ("Braveheart," adapting "We WereSoldiers," among others). Still, a lot of my problems with the movie rested within thestory. The dialogue isn't terrible, but the love triangle has been done over and over

before... and much better. The triangle's start and finale is quite predictable, but mymain problem with the triangle is the middle... there was some, but not enough to fillit in, making it a bit ridiculous and annoying. It felt pretty clichd. And what's up withthe lack of tension between Danny and Rafe? Is it because the war is so much moreimportant? I think there should have been something...

Yes, as you'd expect, the story has its fair share of inaccuracies, but it's a movie, andwhile the idea is history, I think people complain too much. It's a movie... it doesn't

always have to be exact. Some people still don't quite get that. But given that, I likethe idea that real characters from history were drawn into the movie with the fictional


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ones... but it wasn't done quite proper. Paths cross, and that's it basically. There couldhave been more integration with that.

Still, the film does have its corny moments... really corny moments. I must admit I didlaugh out loud at a few of them, thinking they were intentionally meant to be funny...

but were actually supposed to be serious. The script itself is also a bit uneven. It doestend to do a good job keeping the focus on the main characters, but it jumps back andforth between real history and the other events. It could have been ironed out a bitmore in my opinion, namely, more on the real history and political intrigue there,since there was a lot if you know your history.

All in all, I think "Pearl Harbor" is a somewhat underrated movie. I can understandsome people's distaste and dislike for it, but despite its flaws and overused mainromance plot, I found it quite entertaining and interesting. Still, it's what you'd expectfrom Bruckheimer and Bay: action, explosions and the like. Still, I think the movie'sheart is in the right place, even if the film is pretty pro-United States. A lot of you

have already seen "Pearl Harbor," but being a first time watcher, it wasn't as bad as Iwas lead to believe. It's not perfect, but a big summer blockbuster, it worked for me,with historical backdrops and all. It's not a masterpiece, but it is a decent piece ofwork if you ask me. I think everyone owes themselves to check out - or revisit -"Pearl Harbor." And with this four-disc DVD set... you better!

Presented in a THX-certified transfer, this director's cut of "Pearl Harbor" is in 2.35:1anamorphic widescreen. I've seen a good deal of live action transfer from the mousehouse, but this very transfer is by far the best one I've seen from them for a live actionfilm, or any live action film for that matter, and will most likely remain one of 2002's

best transfers. There is so much to like about this transfer, that I'm not sure where tobegin. I suppose I'll focus on the great first before getting to the few flaws.

First off, and what impressed me most, was just how sharp this transfer was. It's reallysleek and very, very visually attractive. Fleshtones are right on target, they are really

perfect and quite fitting. Colors are very well saturated, vibrant and bold. Be it theenemy war planes on the attack at Pearl Harbor, the dullness of the machines, thewhites of the hospitals or the greens of the fields, everything here looks very strong.Black levels are excellent as well, while detail is really amazing. And since I've neverseen the original, I couldn't tell what was new footage and old footage, so all the newstuff is seamless with the older parts from the movie. Nice!

The flaws are tiny and don't add up to very much, but they're still there. There is somegrain which is noticeable, but I think it's supposed to be that way. There is also somereally, really slight edge enhancement. At times, there are also some halo edges (I'm astickler about those, as you should know) and shimmering is found. Very impressive

though is I only saw about one or two blemishes and a scratch, which is quite nice ifyou ask me.


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Another kudos goes to Disney for breaking the film up on two discs. It's nice to seethem not squeezing a three hour film on a single disc. It's nice to see that they want toensure video and audio quality to its best and highest form. And while the film is notdivided up evenly, it is a nice thought and works nicely so the film doesn't get boggeddown in compression issues. And as a result of all of that, you have an amazing, jaw-

dropping transfer that pleases on so many levels. Great job Disney!

Quite a few audio options here, and for a movie like "Pearl Harbor," it's somethingyou'd definitely come to expect. And if there's a movie that's meant to show off yoursound system, no matter how decent or extravagant, "Pearl Harbor" can't be beat (andyou'd probably expect that too, given that this movie has many opportunities for

surrounds, namely, those action packed scenes plus it's a giant Bruckheimerspectacle). You're given sound options in English Dolby Digital 5.1, English DTS 5.1,French Dolby Digital 5.1 and English Dolby Headphone, plus English closedcaptions, English subtitles and Spanish subtitles.

What's great about the tracks on "Pearl Harbor" is that there is such an effectivebalance. Everything doesn't become cluttered together, but are separated out nicely:dialogue, sound effects and the music. The words coming out of the mouths of thecharacters are crystal clear and have much clarity to them, giving off a lot of naturalactivity. Hans Zimmer's moving and finely tuned score is also quite nice to listen toon the tracks, as it has good low ends and is mixed very nicely throughout the

channels, to give off some extra dramatic flair.

But when it comes down to it, the tracks take full life due to the sound effects. Thereare tons and tons of surrounds, and each of them sound magnificent, giving off thefull big budget scale and placing you in the war itself. Be it planes zooming up from

behind you, the sinking of the ships, the gun firings, the bombings, people screaming,clicks of cameras, the explosions and even softer effects like footsteps, knocks ondoors and doors opening. There is a lot (and I mean A LOT) of life to be found ineach track. Very enjoyable and it surely pulls you into the movie, especially withsome fine subwoofer sounds.

The Dolby Digital and DTS tracks are each fantastic, so no matter which one youchoose, you're in for a treat. Still, I slightly prefer the DTS. It envelopes differentlythroughout and is more subtle in how it sucks you in, something I immensely enjoyedand noticed. The Dolby Digital is a bit more gung-ho and full force at times, but theDTS felt a bit fuller and certainly a lot sharper. Still, each are mixed with muchthought and no one should really complain since each one is so impressive.

And finally, we have our "gimmick track," Dolby Headphone in glorious English. I'mall for novelties if they work well, but sad to say, despite the development of this, it'snot worth listening to the Dolby Headphone track. I tested it out with my portable

DVD player and a good set of phones, and it sounded a bit cheap. It's supposed togive you the full 5.1 effect, but it doesn't sound so great. It's nice and there if you


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really want it... but pass. You really need to get the full sense by listening to thismovie in full, real 5.1 I actually found the DTS and Dolby Digital mixesdowncoverted through the headphones a lot more satisfying! On a different note, thisis the first DVD from Disney since the "Clerks" animated series where you can switchaudio on the fly. Always a little pleasure for me when that is offered when making

audio comparisons or wanting to hear someone talk on a commentary right away.

Say what you want about "Pearl Harbor" - does it really deserve a four disc specialedition? Do we really need all of what's given here? In my opinion... yes. Despitewhat your feelings about the movie may be, there's a lot to explore in making a film

like "Pearl Harbor," given the major and epic scale of the production. So much wasneeded to make the film what it was: production designers, technical people,computer artists and many, many more. I'm always interested in how films are made,and the variety of steps that movies must go through in order to complete a vision anddeliver it to major audiences. "Pearl Harbor" was a giant film and there's a lot thatmade it, so there is truly a lot of material and exploration here. Again, think what youwant, but if you want to learn all about filmmaking, you can't go wrong withsomething like "Pearl Harbor" due to so many aspects that it took to create. Disneyhas put together their best Vista Series title yet, and truly offers an in-depth look at themaking of a big-budget feature. If you want to learn something about history, themovie itself and all the little details it takes to make something big or small, you can't

go wrong here...

First things first is that this special Vista Series edition presents the Director's Cut ofthe movie, which was the game plan all along: to show the new cut especially onDVD in a brand new, spankin' edition.This is the director's cut and the director's cutonly: you won't find the theatrical edition here. Like I said, this was my first timeseeing "Pearl Harbor," so I couldn't really tell you first hand what's new and what'sdifferent from the original cut. But this doesn't seem to be one of those majordirector's cuts, you know, where the whole content and vision of the film is changedto what makes the director happy who was pissed from the studio system (MichaelBay is an ultimate mega studio film director anyway, even if he plans for some moreindie films). Reading press materials and comparing the running time from theoriginal theatrical cut, only a few additional minutes seem to be added. But that'senough to change the rating of the movie from a PG-13 to an R. From what I read,over 60 additional shots (many of them quite quick I am led to believe) were added,most of them during the big battle scenes. So, more visuals of people dying, gettinghurt, violence and blood are included for your viewing pleasure. With the addedviolence and gore, I'm assuming it makes it all more tragic and realistic to theaudience (all of it is actually pretty grotesque). Enjoy.

On discs one and two (since the movie itself is broken up on two discs), we have three

audio commentaries (sweet). Our first Audio Commentary with Director Michael Bayand Film Historian Jeanine Basinger is a solid track that focuses on many different


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aspects of the movie. Basinger was actually Bay's film professor at WesleyanUniversity (and I also believe she wrote the liner notes in the Criterion edition DVDof "Armageddon"). The two sound like old friends, and bring a lot of insights andgood interaction throughout the film. Bay talks about choices he made when makingthe movie, working with the actors, special effects and so many little details (not to

mention working with the studio on such a big budget). Basinger chimes in with stuffin response to Bay (not to mention sharing some fun laughs with him), but also givesclear, smart views on the film itself. If you're a fan of the movie or want to hear fromthe mind behind it all, this is one track to listen to. It's quite delightful.

Our second Audio Commentary with Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Ben Affleck, AlecBaldwin and Josh Hartnett is also very good. Affleck and Hartnett seem to berecorded together, while Bruckheimer and Baldwin seem to be recorded separate.

Nonetheless, it's really well edited, and it sounds like all four are in the same roomactually since it's so seamless. Bruckheimer offers some production tidbits and hisown thoughts, while Baldwin's comments are very nice. He brings in his own facts

about history, his perspectives as an actor and working on the film, touching on somany various subjects (the man really knows what he's talking about, and I actuallysound some of his comments pretty fascinating). Finally, Affleck and Hartnett havesome fun and make a few jokes (love the "Armageddon" parallels), but theircomments are more screen specific and focus on the real history, filming and whatthey brought to the movie. Everyone here also gets pretty even talking time which isnice. Quite interesting overall, and worth listening if you're a fan of the movie.

Finally, the third Audio Commentary with Cinematographer John Schwartzman,Production Designer Nigel Phelps, Costume Designer Michael Kaplan, SupervisingArt Director Martin Laing and Composer Hans Zimmer is quite interesting, since itcombines thoughts from different people on different sides of the production, andwhat each person did. I like these kinds of tracks, and a lot is offered here. This may

be a bit too technical for the average DVD fan, but if you're really into movie andwant to know about these artists and what they did in the film, this track can't be beat.Schwartzman focuses on lighting and setting shots up, Zimmer on the score and theothers on their respective areas, such as designs and costumes. There's some funcomments here, and even dead silence at points (surprisingly). Still, it's a bit uneven,

but very informative and detailed.

Besides commentaries on disc one, we also have Why Letterbox? This feature is

hidden, but can be found in the set-up menu under "Audio Options" (just highlight theblank box and a star will appear, then click the star). This lasts a minute and forty-three seconds, and if you have some major pan and scam lovers, then show them this.It's short, but a text intro under a key scenes describes what widescreen really means,and then a colorist for the movie describes what pan and scan does to a widescreenshot, and ultimately ruins the vision. Many examples are shown, and with the scope ofa movie like "Pearl Harbor," a lot of the impact is definitely lost and a lot of shots areruined pretty badly if you watch it in full frame. Nice and simple to educate people.

On disc two, we have the Faith Hill Music Video "There You'll Be" in non-anamorphic widescreen (what an overrated, crappy song that still got an Academy

Award nomination) and a preview for the National Geographic: Beyond The Movie


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"Pearl Harbor" feature (which was included on the earlier DVD set in a specialpackage). The preview is in full frame, has old war clips and stuff from the movie.

The last thing on the disc, clocking in at forty-seven minutes and twenty-five seconds,is Journey To The Screen: The Making Of "Pearl Harbor." This is basically your

promotional featurette advertising the film, but it's longer and features much more,probably since the film had so much massive hype riding on it and they wanted tomake something really amazing and to please. It's in non-anamorphic widescreen, andfeatures a slew of interviews with Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer, Ben Affleck,Cuba Gooding, Jr. and quite a few more. A lot is covered here, including some stuffon the real events of Pearl Harbor, interviews with survivors, film clips, behind thescenes footage and special effects creation. A lot of passion and excitment from themovie can be felt here, and it's a very nice watch overall, if a tad bit superfluous attimes. And on the first two discs, you can adjust your home theater with the THXOptimizer.

The real meat and potatoes are on discs three and four, and boy, it is quite a bigserving size. On disc three, everything is divided up into two sections: "The Film" and"The History." Under "The Film," we're treated to a Production Diary. These littlefeatures last between four to eight minutes and some have audio commentary fromMichael Bay. They're in non-anamorphic widescreen, and the commentaries from Bayoffer comments on what each part is trying to create. Bay uses some fun humor andinteresting stuff to narrate these sequences. The production diary shows Bay in actionand the filming of some major sequences. Very cool stuff and nicely edited. Thesequences are "Airfield Attack," "Baja Gimbal" (no Bay commentary), "BattleshipRow," "Dorie Miller," "Dud Bomb," "Mechanics Row," "Nurse Strafing," "SandbagStunt," "Doolittle Raid" (no commentary) and "Arizona dive" (no commentary). Lottastuff there.

Boot Camp offers two features ("Soldier's Boot Camp with Josh Hartnett, BenAffleck and Ewen Bremner," lasting a bit over 15 minutes and "Officers' Boot Campwith Alec Baldwin" lasting a little over six minutes) on how the actors prepared fortheir soldier roles with physical challenges and whatnot. It's pretty fun andentertaining to watch, and just gives the best raw footage the cameras captures. Seemsa bit grueling, but overall, fine stuff to watch.

There's also the Super 8 Montage was shot by Mark Palansky, and is leftover footage

that wasn't used in the film for the newsreels. It lasts a little under five minutes, butit's nicely done. It's in black and white and played over the film's Hans Zimmer score,and is nicely put together. We also have the Theatrical Teaser and Theatrical Trailerin non-anamorphic widescreen. The teaser has Dolby Digital 5.1, the full trailer offerstwo channel sound.

Under "The History" we have three things, and some of the best stuff this set has tooffer. From The History Channel, we have some great real life stuff that everyonewho is a fan of history should check out, and has things that relate to the movie. Firstup is One Hour Over Tokyo, a 46 minute piece about Doolittle and actually is about ascene that is featured in the film. There are stills, real life footage, newsreel footage

from the time and interviews with historians and survivors of the war. Well made andquite informative.


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Also very informative and lasting 46 minutes is the other special, Unsung Heroes OfPearl Harbor. Also featuring interviews with historians and survivals, newsreelfootage, real life footage of memorials and the like, this talks about people who mademade a difference and impact with their own agendas during Pearl Harbor. Finally,Oral History: The Recollections Of A Pearl Harbor Nurse lasts about six minutes and

is a re-enactment of Ruth Erickson's testament on December 7th, 1941 usingphotographs as it's played. Quite interesting.

Finally, disc four is divided into a few parts. Under "Visual Effects", we have anInteractive Attack Sequence. Lasting about a half-hour, you can watch four angles ofthe sequence: the film itself, on-the-set footage, storyboard and animatics and finally,all three. The audio options include music only (in 5.1), on the set sounds, Dolby 5.1only, sound effects only, commentary by visual effects supervisor Eric Brevig, audiocommentary by storyboard artist Robert Consing and finally an audio commentary byreal Pearl Harbor survivors (wow!). The fourth angle even has some text from peopleon the events. I could see myself watching all of this over and over... the

commentaries are very informative and give different ways to look at the movie, theset only sound is interesting and the editing of the set only stuff is great. Out of all themulti-angle features I've seen on DVD, this is the best way I've seen it handled. Don'tmiss this.

Deconstructing Deconstruction: A Conversation on Visual Effects with Michael Bayand Eric Brevig features the two talking about the creation of the film's specialeffects. There's a "white rabbit" like feature on the disc, when you click the red staricon during this feature, you can watch about 30 minutes worth of other clips withtalking from Industrial Light and Magic's Ed Hirsh, Ben Snow and Eric Brevig. Wesee the two talking, and we cut away sometimes to the ILM stuff and sometimes wesee both things at once. The two talk like good friends, and ask each other questionsin how things were accomplish. This isn't for everyone, but if you like technical filmfeatures and special effects, this is worth watching. It's even chapter encoded too.

The Animatic Attack lasts about six minutes and has Bay talking over computermodels, as well as John Schwartzman and a few other visual guys on the creation ofcertain effects on how things were done. Nice stuff. The Interactive Timeline is reallynifty, and has several viewing features on mid 1800s historical events up until 1941. Itwas a little confusing and hard to work. The setup of it is nice and classy, and theclips are in full frame, but it's still interesting and gives more background nonetheless.

History students should enjoy this if they need United States info from this timeline...

There's also a Gallery divided into six sections and are quite interesting to observe:"Production Design," "Publicity," "Historical, "Storyboards," "ILM" and "StanWinston Special Effects Makeup," which are then divided further. Loads of imagesfrom so many different ideals to go through... enjoy! While on the DVD-ROM side,you can check out the Pearl Harbor Definitive Bibilography. There are also some wellearned DVD Credits for the team behind this wonderful release.

The interactive menus on the discs are sleek, slick and rather elegant. They eachcapture the movie's feel and authenticate 1941, complete with music, real radio

broadcasts and Hans Zimmer's strong score. Finally, and perhaps the most interestingand yet another thing to drop your jaw on with this disc is the packaging. This is quite


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simply one of the best, if not the best packaging job I've seen for a DVD release. It'svery authentic, given off a look like some classic book. Inside it holds all four discs inwhat is supposed to be like an envelope, has a strap, an amazing booklet giving detailon the film, what the DVD features and the extras,

pearl harbor production notes

Documents