Stars:
Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Alec Baldwin, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Kate Beckinsale,
Jon Voight, Mako, Dan Ackroyd, Tom Sizemore, and Colm Feore
Writer:
Randall Wallace
Director:
Michael Bay
Feature
length: 184 minutes
Extras:
Three Audio Commentaries With Filmmakers, Featurettes, Animatic Scene Concepts,
Boot Camp Segments With The Actors, Special Effects Deconstruction, History
Channel Documentaries, Multi-Angle Breakdown Of Action Segments, Definitive
Bibliography – DVD-ROM
Languages:
English DTS Digital 5.1 Surround, English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish Subtitles
Packaging:
Gatefold Within A Slipcase
Chapter
Stops: 44
Sound:
DTS Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2001/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Touchstone Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
When I was in high school I went with my parents on a summer trip to Hawaii. There we went to the Battleship Arizona Memorial as most commonly seen by people my age when they were growing up on of all the places “The Brady Bunch.” It is an amazing site, but being 15 years old at that time, I did not take away the magnitude of the event other than the fact that I was there for a brief period of time while on a family vacation. Flash forward to 2001 and “Pearl Harbor” is playing around the corner from where I live. I had seen the teaser and the trailer and I went to see the first show and I really enjoyed the film. I was surprised that many people did not care much for it and wondered what they were expecting. Sure the film is not perfect, but I was not expecting perfection, I was expecting to see a dramatization of the tragedy of “Pearl Harbor” in a way no one had ever seen it before and felt that when I left the theater I got my money’ worth. However I must admit that I walked out thinking about how great the special effects were and the production design was also very good and how pretty Kate Beckinsale is, but I did not walk out feeling changed emotionally as I have with other films. However since I was not expecting this film to do that I was not disappointed.
Flash
forward to the tragedy that occurred in my hometown of New York City with the
destruction of the World Trade Center. That area of Manhattan was my favorite
part of the city. I have worked around there for many years. When I was in
college I did my internship at the Tribeca Film Center, which is near by, and
even got some freelance work as a story analyst and whatnot. My favorite area
was the World Trade Center because it was so bright and near the river so one
could feel a cool breeze during the summer time and it was very clean. I would
do a lot of shopping both within and around the area of the center buying DVD-Videos,
Laserdiscs, clothes, and books. Practically every subway and the New Jersey PATH
train stopped there and there was even a mall beneath the center on level with
the various subways. The night before the event I was planning on going to the
World Trade Center to visit a bookstore on the ground floor, and was going to go
so I could be there by 9am, but at the last minute I decided not to go and my
older brother who works in Manhattan could not swing going there either for me
so I stayed in. The next morning my friend calls me and says “a plane just hit
the World Trade Center” and I turned on my TV and much like the people who
were at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked, I could not believe what I was
seeing. I honestly thought it was some navigation error at first until the
second plane hit the other tower. The rest has been history. I could go on about
friends and family who were actually there or nearby, but this is a DVD review
and my point on bringing this out was that for everyone who lived in NYC at the
time as well as the world, the thought of something like that happening was
simply as unthinkable as a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor some 60 years or so
earlier.
I
can say without reservation that life has not been the same since for anyone
here and the irony of Michael Bay’s epic World War II drama being released a
few months prior to the tragedy has changed the way Americans will relate to the
film even though there were a lot more people who died on September 11, 2001.
There are enough parallels between the two sneak attacks the write a book. So it
was with great appreciation that Buena Vista Home Entertainment granted me the
opportunity to review there “Vista Series” release of “Pearl Harbor: The
Director’s Cut,” which as a whole is one of the most comprehensive DVD
releases of a film to ever be released in the history of the format.
Buena
Vista Home Entertainment’s “Pearl Harbor: The Director’s Cut: Vista
Series: Four-Disc Set” comes packaged within a slipcase meant to look like a
vintage mail carrying case. Slip off the case and one finds a duplicate that
opens up into a multileveled gatefold complete with a reproduction of a typed
letter featuring an excerpt from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Address To
Congress on December 8, 1941. Next to it is a pouch that contains all four
discs, each individually packaged within it’s own cardboard envelope that are
connected to the packaging so one does not have to worry about the discs flying
out of the case. Next to the pouch is a cover that opens to reveal a 24-page
companion booklet that details the contents of the set and there are also four
retro “Pearl Harbor” postcards, each with one of the film’s stars in
character posing as I these were induction posters. I have to admit that they
remind me a bit of the induction posters and phrases seen in Paul Verhoeven’s
“Starship Troopers,” which was inspired in part by the military propaganda
used during World War II as well as the Korean War. The gatefold then opens up
to reveal more photos from the film and there is a ten-dollar rebate for
consumers who bought last year’s “60th Anniversary Commemorative
Edition.” As a whole, I think the packaging is great, but I would have
preferred the discs to be more readily available on a holder where I could just
punch the center clip down and the disc pops up rather than reaching inside a
cardboard envelope and getting my fingerprints on the edge of the disc.
As with the previous release, “Pearl Harbor: The Director’s Cut” is spread across two discs with the film’s first two plus hours on disc one and the balance of the film on disc two. The Director’s Cut restores some extra gore as well as some more derogatory language about the Japanese that was not present in the theatrical cut. One must remember that the ugly reality of war is that the enemy must be demonized so while it may not be politically correct, the references and use of the words “Slant Eyed Motherfucker!” or just “Japs!” would be acceptable at that time the same way some films portray foreigners referring to US Citizens as “Stupid Americans!” Like it or not, people did say things like this and maybe worse. A scene Michael Bay didn’t care much for with the pilots sitting around a fire was cut and two new scenes featuring Alec Baldwin commenting on the film’s leads or interacting with them have been added so overall there is not much of a change in the film’s length, just the content.
The
image is presented in a beautiful anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio
and like the previous release the transfer simply rocks. It has no defects and
no compression grain. The images are consistently sharp throughout. The transfer
is also THX Certified complete with the THX Optimizer™ Program for picture and
sound calibration. The English DTS Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is aggressive
and well mixed. “Pearl Harbor” is a great demo DVD for anyone who wants to
show off the picture and sound capabilities of their systems and DVD in general.
The English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack does not have as high of a
fidelity as the DTS track, but it is still well mixed and of a very high quality
when compared to other Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtracks. A French Language
Dolby Digital Soundtrack is also included as an option along with English
Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish Subtitles.
There
are three commentary tracks included on the first two discs as well. The first
one features Director Michael Bay along with “Pearl Harbor” Film Historian
and former Film School Professor of Michael Bay’s, Jeanine Basinger. The
commentary was recorded days after the tragedy of September 11, 2001, which
draws Bay to make some obvious comments regarding the relation between the two
attacks. Bay is quite articulate and Basinger just might be his biggest fan in
terms of supporting just about every single thing he says and adding some
historical perspective to the film. The second commentary track features
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Actors Alec Baldwin, Ben Affleck, and Josh
Hartnett. Bruckheimer gives an excellent screen specific audio commentary track
with Alec Baldwin adding in a line or two, but sounding a bit subdued. The mix
includes Ben Affleck, and Josh Hartnett, who have a great time goofing on the
subtle homoerotic overtones their character’s friendship have on screen with
Affleck making some great laugh out loud jokes at times. The final commentary is
perhaps the most technical with John Schwartzman, Michael Kaplan, Nigel Phelps,
and Hans Zimmer discussing production design, costume design, producing and
composing collectively. As a whole all three-feature length commentaries are
great and all three are worth listening to.
Also
included on discs one and two is a demonstration by Michael Bay on why a
theatrical feature shot in scope should be presented in a letterboxed or
widescreen aspect ratio and the benefits inherent therewith. In addition a
47-minute behind the scenes documentary along with a Trailer for the National
Geographic “Beyond The Movie” DVD is included along with the Faith Hill
Music Video for “There You’ll Be.” Both the Music Video and the Trailer
are presented with full Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound.
Discs three and four have the “Meat & Potatoes” so to speak of the set with multiple combinations of behind the scenes featurettes and historical documentaries. The behind the scenes featurettes can be watched individually or as a whole. Some of the behind the scenes materials feature additional audio commentary tracks and all are presented with high quality videotape shot widescreen (1.78:1). The contents along with running length are detailed below:
Featurette Title & Length:
Airfield Attack – 7.50
Baja Gimbal – 7.16
Battleship Row – 6.17
Dorie Miller – 6.44
Mechanics Row – 7.39
Dud Bomb – 7.22
Sandbag Stunt – 5.09
Nurse Strafing – 3.58
Dolittle Raid – 6.44
Arizona Dive – 3.52
Soldier’s Bootcamp – 15.53
Officer’s Boot Camp – 6.05
Super 8 Montage – 4.35
Disc four features a multi angled and multi audio “Interactive Attack Sequence” that allows the viewer to switch between or watch all three angles from the complete film scene, the set, storyboards and animatics while toggling between the 5.1 Soundtrack, Set Soundtrack, Music Only Soundtrack, Audio Commentary by Visual Effects Supervisor Eric Brevig and an Audio Commentary by Storyboard Artist Robbie Consing. This is supported by a complete deconstruction of some of the visual effects sequences with Director Michael Bay and Special Effects Supervisor Eric Brevig and animatics for the attack sequences along with several still galleries.
The historical portion of the supplements include two 50-minute History Channel documentaries, which delve into the facts behind the dramatization of the Dolittle Raid on Tokyo and the unsung heroes of Pearl Harbor. There are audio comments and recollections from survivors as well as a interactive time line that gives the viewer access to short documentary segments that shed light on the struggle that would lead to the attack on Pearl Harbor going back nearly a century before the tragic event took place. The (1.85:1) Dolby Digital 5.1 Theatrical Teaser and (2.35:1) Dolby Stereo Theatrical Trailer wrap up the extra features included within the set. The interactive menus are well crafted with full motion scene selections and beautiful transitions that mix the period radio and style of the time with the DVD technology in a classy way. They are all very easy to navigate as well.
Remembering:
As a whole it cannot be denied that this is one of the most comprehensive DVD sets ever made for a single film and an outstanding value for the consumer. I also think that over time on DVD and eventually on television “Pearl Harbor” will find a larger audience and a much larger appreciation of something no one should ever forget. “Pearl Harbor: The Director’s Cut: Vista Series: Four-Disc Set” is available now on DVD-Video from Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
© Copyright 2002
By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
The Top Ten DVD-Videos Of 2002 As Reviewed At GENRE ONLINE.NET!