Randall Wallace (2) (1949–)

Didn't watch this for a long time because it's sooo long. Rousing story, well acted, well directed. Take half a star off it for having a gorgeous French actress in it and never taking her clothes off. The fight scenes are graphic and intense. I think it was a mistake to have his voice-over at the end, after he'd died. It's hard to think of Mel Gibson anymore without all that personal crap getting in the way.

Pearl Harbor is a beautifully written and suspenseful epic saga of love and war. Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker are two daring young pilots in the U.S. Army Air Corps who have grown up like brothers and first learned to fly in crop-dusting planes. Rafe has fallen in love with Evelyn Stewart, a beautiful and courageous nurse serving in the U.S. Navy. But they are soon separated by war when Rafe volunteers for the Eagle Squadron, a group of Americans fighting alongside the English during the show more Battle of Britain. With the solemn promise that he will return, Rafe heads off for the deadly skies above the English Channel, while both Evelyn and Danny are transferred to the paradise of Hawaii's Pearl Harbor. Their Eden is shattered, however, when word reaches them in the Pacific that Rafe has been killed in combat. Grief-stricken, they hold fast to each other for support, and ultimately fall in love. Then Rafe returns.... show less

OK, first of all, I know as history this absolutely positively stinks. On the Wiki, I found out that in 2009, the film ranked second on a list of "most historically inaccurate movies" in The Times." Probably the biggest blooper was the affair Princess Isabella supposedly had with Wallace--at that time in history she was three years old and her son Edward was born seven years after Wallace died. And the list of small things this got wrong is endless. But hey, it's a great story (with emphasis show more on story) and a very watchable film with lots of adventure and visibly striking scenes. show less

This is not a film that will ever light up the planet as it has no real drama. Either the viewer will know what happened or they will guess that being filmed means nothing truly awful will happen. I actually quite enjoyed it though as I didn't know the history although I knew Secretariat was a famous horse. It was a pleasant couple of hours but nothing special.