This movie had great actors, was shot on location for much of it and contained some very interesting history. However, it wasn't a great film, rather it was pretty flat for the first hour and a half. I think the length hurt without solid direction and the battle scene while very good was not enough to make this one a winner. Even the excellent Jason Robards didn't seem to have much of a chance to do anything here. I couldn't help but have the feeling it could have done a lot better with tightening up some of the history which came out somewhat confusing. For example, the time references on Dec. 7th were mixed up including a mistranslation of the Japanese language. Also, certain points of the story which could have been made to be very dramatic just sat there such as the anticipation of an attack on Nov. 30th that didn't happen. Ideas like these were just forgotten about leaving this viewer with an unsatisfied feeling as if somehow there was a cohesion that was lacking. The last 45 mins. with the battle scene was what really had an impact here. There, I got the whole review done without mentioning Pearl Harbor. Darn! No I didn't!!!
Review of Tora! Tora! Tora!
