Pearl Harbor Free Essays

The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U. S. We will write a custom essay sample on Pearl Harbor or any similar topic only for you Order Now Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. The base was attacked by Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. All eight U. S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four being sunk. Of the eight damaged six were raised, repaired and returned to service later in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 U. S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 wounded. The power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building were not attacked. The attack came as a profound shock to the American people and led directly to the American entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters. The following day, the United States declared war on Japan. There were numerous historical examples for unannounced military action by Japan. However, the lack of any formal warning, particularly while negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, â€Å"a date which will live in infamy†. How to cite Pearl Harbor, Papers Pearl Harbor Free Essays When it comes down to major events in our countries history such as the attack Pearl Harbor, the acting cast should have put more heart into their characters to put the movie over the top. Throughout the movie, Pearl Harbor, the whole story revolves around the main characters of Rafe McCawley (Ben Affleck), Daniel â€Å"Danny† Walker (Josh Hartnett) and Nurse Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale). When it came down to those three characters in the movie, Pearl Harbor, the character development could have been portrayed very differently considering what this event did to the country. We will write a custom essay sample on Pearl Harbor or any similar topic only for you Order Now All of the acting in this moving seemed as if it was half-hearted and could have been done a lot better. The movie Pearl Harbor is directed by Michael Bay, also with the help of Jerry Bruckheimer and Randall Wallace. The main cast now a days is a very popular group of people. The names of Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Alex Baldwin (Major Jimmy Doolittle) and Cuba Gooding Jr. (Petty Officer 2nd Class, Dorie Miller) are the main actors/actress in this movie. The purpose of this movie was to show the story of what happened on December 7, 1941 on the islands of Hawaii. Mostly throughout the movie it was based on the love triangle that occluded between Affleck, Hartnett and Beckinsale. It is kind of a drag to a movie that is supposed to be about the bravery and courage that USA managed to still have after one of the most tragic events ever took place against them. From a character stand point, it could have been acted differently to make up for the fact the movie wasn’t about the details of the war as much as you would expect it to be. Rafe McCawley (Affleck) was always there to protect Danny from all the trouble that he encounters throughout his life. It all started at the beginning of the movie when Danny’s Father hits Danny, Rafe hits his Danny’s Father over the back, which shows right away that he is there to protect him. This is a characteristic that was learned right away about Rafe and how he is when it comes to his best friend. Rafe is a cocky fighter pilot that is in the Army at the time, with his best friend, Danny. Everything about Rafe is either him being cocky when it comes to his flying skills or else being over protective of Danny. When it came to his character it should have een better played out where it was harder to find out what the character is all about, but in this case he was easy to figure out which made the character kind of plain and dull. When it came to emotional scenes, Rafe would not look as emotional as he should when he gets the news he does, the only time he really showed true emotion is when he couldn’t protect Danny, but even then he over acted it. Personally there could have been a few ways Rafe could have showed his emotions differently. For example when he returned from his duties over in Europe, Danny had taken the place of him in Evelyn’s heart. When he returned he found out about this and the way he took it was not the way you would expect it to be handled when a person is in a crisis like this. He kind of just shrugs it off and kind movies on as if it doesn’t affect him. A person now a day would act completely different. They would be very mad at his friend and would have completely disowned his friend and the girl. Not only would that happen the person that would be in Rafe’s shoes would also be most likely be emotionally scared and hurt, not just be able to forget about it and move on with them in his life still. When it came down to Rafe in the movie Pearl Harbor he could have showed more heart and emotion when it came to his character in this movie. Daniel â€Å"Danny† Walker is also an amazing fighter pilot who was Rafe’s wingman. He was always looked at by Rafe as his younger brother and was always being protected from him. He would always want to be there to help out and look out for Rafe as well. When Rafe was over in Europe Danny began to fall for Evelyn, who was at the time Rafe’s girlfriend. He was the caring, sweet character between the two pilots. Just like Rafe, Danny was also a character who was not well developed because he was also very easy to read what kind of person he was. Danny was too sensitive for what his character actually does in this movie. The way he is portrayed in this movie, he would do anything to keep peace and happiness with close people in his life. But the twist was he went for his best friend’s girlfriend and fell in love with her. If he really was as sensitive as he showed while acting, a person like that would truly not do that to their friend. The acting was basically all Hollywood to try to add some extra effects to the movie when what actually happened didn’t fit the way the character acted all movie long. You cannot blame the reason for this on Josh Hartnett, it has to do with the directing and them telling Hartnett how he should perform during these situations. Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale) was a nurse that fell madly in love over the charm Rafe had at the medical examinations. Evelyn and Rafe were both stationed in the same location until she was stationed in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and Rafe was going over to Europe. She showed her emotions and love for Rafe through notes they would write back and forth. Evelyn, while she was separated from Rafe, in Hawaii got some unwanted news from Danny. After that the two of them started to have a romance between them. When Rafe came back from Europe he was stationed in Hawaii to reunite with his girlfriend and best friend. But that’s when everyone finds out what kind of person Evelyn was. Towards the beginning of the movie she is â€Å"madly in love† with Rafe and all of a sudden after she gets some news, her heart has a change of ways and is going for Rafe’s best friend, Danny. You can understand people have a change of heart and cannot wait around forever, but for a person to stop loving someone and go for their best friend is just something that doesn’t happen too often, especially after the way she shows her affection towards the two men. Once again it was a Hollywood set up to make the movie have more drama to it. They basically added her emotions and this part of the story to the movie to add more length and storyline to it. If these scenes were taken out of the movie, the plot would be a little different but would still have the same concept, also would be a better historical movie rather than a drama movie. When it came to a movie such as Pearl Harbor where this event scared the humanity of America, the movie should have been more focused on the issue it is title after, rather than the love romance that happened between the characters. This movie is a great movie, but if it were to take out the sappy romance or at least have the actors and actress put a little more effort and more timely emotions into the picture it would have made this movie even better. When it comes down to the character development, it made this movie only a good movie compared to the potential to be an excellent movie. How to cite Pearl Harbor, Essay examples