Childhood friends Rafe McCawley (Ben Affleck) and Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett) are drawn together as hot-shot pilots on the eve of World War II when the USA is still not fully committed to the defeat of Hitler and Co.
The dynamic of their relationship is tested when Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale) falls for McCawley when he fails his medical and she passes him for his determination. McCawley goes off to fight with the RAF but is shot down and presumed dead. Walker and Johnson fall in love in his absence, but McCawley returns bruised but alive, just as Japan decides it wants to declare war, with Pearl Harbor in Hawaii the target.
Written by BRAVEHEART scribe Randall Wallace and directed in his inimitable spectacular style by Michael Bay, PEARL HARBOR scores higher on the spectacle with its’ brilliant recreation of the attack of the famous base, even if the relationship aspect is more sentimental than most.
Beckinsale adds glamour and spice, as does Jennifer Garner as one of her nursing colleagues.