'Pearl Harbor' opens summer film season

The calendar says summer doesn't start until June 21, but today marks the official start of the summer blockbuster season with the opening of "Pearl Harbor."
   The historical blockbuster is a thrilling joyride that flies past its few foibles and glosses everything over with impressive special effects. "Pearl Harbor" has its problems, but it's nautical miles better than "Titanic."
   The film takes a successful part-"Top Gun," part-"Titanic" tack. The wartime epic stars a DiCaprio-esque Ben Affleck as Rafe and heartthrob-to-be Josh Hartnett as his best friend, Danny. They grow up as best friends who join the Navy and become bad-boy hot shot pilots.
   The straightforwardly charming Rafe immediately enlists the love of Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale), a young nurse, while his shy compatriot Danny lays low. Although America hadn't yet committed itself to the war, the country is lending pilots to Britain's war effort. Rafe volunteers and is sent oversees.
   When Rafe is shot down and reported dead, Danny consoles Evelyn and then some; the two eventually start seeing each other. But when an unharmed Rafe visits them both at their post in Pearl Harbor a few months later he encounters a surprised Danny, a pregnant Evelyn and the Japanese knocking on Hawaii's front door.
   A PG-13 rating
   Bruckheimer's choice to make "Pearl Harbor" PG-13 is baffling in the context of a war movie. Perhaps the filmmaker decided it was more important to give the under-13 crowd three hours of Affleck and Hartnett than to produce a war epic in the tone of "Saving Private Ryan."
   The script, although somewhat formulaic, tells the story of a romance that is out of the ordinary for a film of this stature. But strangely, one of the last spoken lines of the film has a creepy, almost incestuous tone, and it could have been worded more tastefully.
   Report card for actors
   The actors' performances fit the film's flashy style and larger-than-life special effects. Affleck's screen presence and all-American grin handsomely dominate the screen, and Beckinsale the Brit is impressive in her breakthrough action role.
   If an acting report card were handed out, Hartnett and Beckinsale each would be at the head of the class with B- (Hartnett does "coy boy" pretty well; Beckinsale convincingly portrays a range of emotions, though not always at the appropriate time). Affleck chalks up a C+ (He's stronger in comedic roles, but he's getting there. Watch out Harrison Ford - Affleck is the new Jack Ryan in the next film based on a Tom Clancy novel.).
   Alec Baldwin gets a C (He doesn't get much screen time as James Doolittle, but when he does, it's usually overacted). Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a small role of a cook disgruntled that the Navy won't let him fire a weapon.
   A cameo by the Lex
   The actors have a hard time keeping up with the visual effects and stunning scenery - some of which can be found on North Beach since a few of the scenes were shot on the Lexington Museum on the Bay. The Lex looks good in action again, but with all the computer wizardry going on (remember it portrays both a Japanese and American aircraft carrier), the area around the carrier is impossible to recognize.
   The film packs a lot of firepower and hits its targets on most counts; Affleck and Hartnett will obviously hit bull's-eyes with their performances - straight through the hearts of their legions of admirers.
  

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