Director Michael Bay, responsible for loud, dumb action films (Armageddon), and screenwriter Randall Wallace, noted for historical distortions and pithy dialogue (Braveheart), have decided to follow the formula of Titanic by glossing over the facts of a tragic historical event and padding it with a badly written romantic plot. Rafe McCawley (Ben Affleck) and Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett) are childhood friends, both flying for the U.S. Army in 1941. Kate Beckinsale is the woman caught between them. All three end up in Pearl Harbor on the day "that shall live in infamy". Who dies? Who gets the girl? Who cares? The reason to see this film is the meticulous, realistic 45 minute battle scene. We see the Arizona blow up, the Oklahoma capsize, billowing smoke and the frustration and terror of the soldiers and sailors caught in the middle of the slaughter. Unfortunately, the hospital scenes are sanitised by blurry photography and those "heroic" flyboys account for a quarter of the Japanese planes shot down over Pearl Harbor. The best performances are from Cuba Gooding, Jr. playing real life Dorie Miller, a Navy cook who shot down a couple of planes, and Tom Sizemore, reprising his gruff sergeant role from Saving Private Ryan, but their scenes are brief. I'm not allowed to give away the ending, but the film leaves you in no doubt that America wins the war (so salute or bring a bucket).