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Pearl Harbor (Blu-ray)
Blu-ray ALL - America - Buena Vista Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Rob Hunt/Noor Razzak (4th January 2007). |
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The Film
 Widely slated upon its theatrical release, for the historical inaccuracies, the great budget and the "acting", this is by no means a great film. In fact by most standards it is truly average at best. Regardless of this though, taken with a strong pinch of salt, this film is not as bad as the hype. The film can be categorized into three parts, the 1st hour, the 2nd hour and 3rd hour. The 1st Hour: The story begins with two best friend aviators, Captain Rafe McCawley and Captain Danny Walker (Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett respectively). The first weak point - calling the two leads Rafe and Danny. Once past this though, the other character's have better names - Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale), James (Alec Baldwin), Earl (Tom Sizemore), Billy (William Lee Scott) and Red (Ewen Bremner) - names that sound like they belong in that era. The story sets off with how Rafe meets the lovely nurse Evelyn, and they fall deeply in love. Naturally, Rafe gets himself enrolled into the Eagle Squadron soon after and is sent over to England. Time for the second pinch of salt - Affleck really is the odd one out here, and not in a good way, also the love story segments of the film are really quite weak. The 1st Hour overall sets the story up, but requires a lot of patience and some suspension of disbelief. The 2nd Hour: this 2nd Hour is probably the highlight of the film - the attack on Pearl Harbor is one of the best ever commited to screen, and although sometimes technically inaccurate (as to how the bombs would have fallen) is a marvellous spectacle. This version of the film is the theatrical cut, which unfortunatley isn't as violent as the director's cut which is featured on DVD, regardless the middle section of this film is made up of most all the best parts of this story. The 3rd Hour: This hour would have been the weakest, were it not for the "acting" of the first hour. Appalingly inaccurate to the historical facts and very tongue in cheek this ending is not a bad one, but could have been a hell of a lot better. The performances by Jon Voight, Dan Aykroyd, Alec Baldwin and Cuba Gooding Jr. are the best in all the film, but then coming from these actors one would expect no less. Watch out also for early appearance from Jennifer Garner and Jaime King as two nurses, and a cameo by Matt Damon as a machine-gunner. All in all a reasonable film, but you either love it or despise it.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 this widescreen transfer is presented in full 1080p / 24fps high-definition using MPEG-2 compression, if any films are made for high-definition then it's the films of Michael Bay (sure the films of George Lucas and Peter Jackson are also on that list), "Pearl Harbor" was previous released on DVD on three separate occasions, the 2-disc 60th Anniversary Edition, a 3-disc 60th Anniversary Gift Set and a 4-disc Director's Cut, each release featured a reference quality transfer that was simply top notch and this release is no different. Buena Vista has authored this film on a dual layer 50GB disc allowing the three hour run time adequate space to stretch out and show off its wares, as a result this disc can be considered reference quality for the High-definition era, the image is strikingly sharp and beautifully detailed with colors presented here pitch perfect, skin tones are natural and black levels are unbeatable. The image is as clean as any new film released without a single blemish, no dirt, no scratches at all, furthermore I found no compression artefacts, no edge-enhancements or any other flaws of that kind. Simply out this transfer is pure eye candy.
Audio
Three audio tracks are included, an uncompressed English PCM 5.1 surround presented in 48kHz/24-bit as well as an English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its PCM track. Much like the reference quality image the sound is aggressive and boisterous, with dialogue clean and distortion free, it's the surround activity that makes this track shine especially during the raid sequence which manages to shake the room with its tremendous rumble. The channels are active all the time and doesn't let up until the film is over, explosions and gun shots, planes veering into frame and every war-related sound effect you can think off is perfectly mixed and presented here impressively allowing the viewer to totally immerse themselves in the film. Optional subtitles are included in English for the hearing impaired, French and Spanish.
Extras
Buena Vista has released this film with only a few extras from the the previous DVD releases, they include two documentaries, a music video plus the film's trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. The first extra included on this disc is "Journey to the Screen: The Making of 'Pearl Harbor'" a documentary that runs for 47 minutes 26 seconds. This is a comprehensive look at the making of the film and includes interviews with the key cast and crew, it goes beyond the average EPK and takes us in-depth into the film making process, I found it very informational and also interesting viewing. Following that is "Unsung Heroes of Pearl Harbor" a special History Channel documentary that runs for 45 minutes 30 seconds and takes a look at the real events as well as interviews survivors of the attack. The History Channel is actually one of my favorite channels, I watch it often and enjoy the many documentaries they produce and feature and this one is no exception, if anyone is interested in the history behind this significant event then this feature is worth watching and makes a welcomed addition to this disc. Next up is "There You'll Be" a music video that runs for 3 minutes 56 seconds from country singer Faith Hill, and next to Céline Dion's song she did for "Titanic" (1997) is my second most hated movie-song ever! Rounding out the extras are the film's original theatrical teaser which runs for 2 minutes 2 seconds and the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 2 minutes 33 seconds, and if you didn't like the film then at least these trailers are worth watching because they are some of the best ever assembled for a film, it's a shame they totally misrepresent the film entirely. Also included is "Movie Showcase" which jumps to three key reference scenes that show off the high-definition quality.
Overall
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