Image Courtesy of Amazon.com
Director:
Richard Fleischer (U.S.A. sequences)
Kinji Fukasaku (Japan sequences)
Toshio Masuda (Japan sequences)
Cast:
Martin Balsam……….Admiral Husband E. Kimmel
Sô Yamamura……….Vice-Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
Joseph Cotten……….Henry L. Stimson
Tatsuya Mihashi……….Commander Minoru Genda
E.G. Marshall……….Colonel Rufus G. Bratton
James Whitmore……….Admiral William F. Halsey
Takahiro Tamura……….Lt. Cmdr. Fuchida
Eijirô Tono……….Admiral Nagumo
Jason Robards……….Lt. General Walter C. Short
Wesley Addy……….Lt. Cmdr. Alvin D. Kramer
Shogo Shimada……….Ambassador Nomura
Frank Aletter……….Lt. Commander Thomas
Koreya Senda……….Prince Funimaro Konoye
Leon Ames……….Frank Knox
Junya Usami……….Vice-Admiral Zengo Yoshida
The Movie
War films have undergone quite a change in the last 30 years. For different generations the nature of war has changed immensely; before the Vietnam War there was a certain romantic notion to combat. War films dealt with this notion amidst big sweeping epic-style films that dealt with romance on occasion but looked upon war as a vocation as opposed to a condition.
And that’s how the modern war film looks at itself; war is a sort of condition that men experience and deal with. There is no good or bad; what’s left is soldiers dealing with the absurdity of death and fighting while trying to stay alive in their own personal hellhole. While a film like Pearl Harbor sneaks up out of the blue, with Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett and Cuba Gooding Jr. fighting off the Japanese both during the attack and after in the Jerry Bruckheimer manner of big explosions and flag-waving in only the way Bay & Bruckheimer can do, a modern war film like Saving Private Ryan looks at the absurdity of war and its affect on the men that fight it. A film like From Here to Eternity can look at a big romance and human relationships on the eve of Pearl Harbor almost 50 years ago whereas Jarhead now looks at how the nature of war in the modern era has changed the role of the soldier.
So it’s interesting to take a look back at how war was viewed by another generation. Tora! Tora! Tora! is a look at Pearl Harbor in the same manner The Longest Day looked at D-Day. The film takes a look at both sides of Pearl Harbor. Whereas the temptation is to focus solely on the American perspective on the events in a largely fictionalized manner, Tora! Tora! Tora! takes a look at both the Japanese and American sides of a day that would live in infamy.
Tora! Tora! Tora! trolls history for a historically accurate look at the events of December 7th, 1941. Following the events of history as they unfolded from both sides, the film is essentially two different sides to the same story. The Japanese are seeking peace with the U.S during World War II while trying to continue to get the raw materials to feed their war machine. Negotiating an alliance with the Axis powers, some radical army leaders press for war with America. While negotiations for peace are being attempted, war plans are being finalized against a prime military target: Pearl Harbor. The American Fleet is concentrated in Hawaii, attempting to be ready to move if Japan were to move on the rest of Asia, and critical American blunders set up the Naval Base to be crushed by a sneak attack.
The film can be broken down into two completely different halves. The first half is an awfully boring documentary-style look at the buildup to the battle. With a couple directors trying to do the same style and look to it all, the result is a dialogue heavy melodrama from a rather uninspiring cast. The story is set up properly, but the dialogue and plodding nature make the pace less than nail-biting. By the time the intermission comes up it feels much longer than the approximate 70 minutes that has elapsed. The film doesn’t start getting interesting until the attack has started midway through the film’s nearly three hour running time. The documentary look and attention detail in getting the history rate is distracting in that it’s quite boring; there is no sense of urgency or even great acting to inject some life into the film’s slow build.
The attack itself is pretty spectacular despite it being nearly four decades old. This is the film’s strong point much like it was in Pearl Harbor. The action is fast and furious, as the stunned Americans struggle to fight back when they’re clearly outgunned and outmanned, as well as caught completely by surprise. What the first half of the film does in boring the viewer the second half does in bringing the viewer to the edge of their seat. The film’s build to the big event is slow and agonizing, but the payoff is worth the wait.
Overall it adds up to a mediocre war film about a horrible day in human history that’s highlighted by some great effects work and some stellar action sequences.
Score : 5 / 10
The Video
Presented in a widescreen format with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, Tora! Tora! Tora! looks great. While the film’s transfer does show its years in that it is occasionally grainy, the colors are strong and separated.
The Audio
Presented in a Dolby Digital 4.1 format, the film has a great audio component to it. Before the attack on Pearl Harbor the film is much more dialogue heavy and has a much different score than the big booming action sequence that finishes off the film; both come through quite well.
The Extras
Disc One:/
Commentary by director Richard Fleischer and Japanese film historian Stuart Galbraith IV
Disc Two :
“History through the Lnes: Tora! Tora! Tora! A Giant Awakes is a History Channel look at the events of Pearl Harbor and its cinematic story in Tora! Tora! Tora!. Following Daryl Zanuck’s success with The Longest Day, Zanuck wanted to do another historical project by presenting both sides of a day that would live in infamy. Following the same sort of factual premises and attention to detail that made The Longest Day a success, this featurette is a historical perspective on the film and the movie. Following the same sort of multi-directional approach that The Longest Day used, legendary director Akira Kurosawa was among those tapped to helm the epic film. He would later be replaced in the project for a number of reasons, among them trying to curry favor from wealthy industrialists by casting them in the film, which did not go over well in light of Kurosawa trying to rewrite both sides of the script as well as having massive delays in his production as his three weeks of shooting netted a total of six minutes of film.
Tora! Tora! Tora! was a much more mammoth production as it differs from Zanuck’s previous epic in a lot of areas, most notably in the cast; The Longest Day had a number of character actors and unknowns to give the film a more documentary look and feel to it. Having to appease the Pentagon, the State Department as well as the Japanese government, the film had to strive for historical accuracy as well as be able to have some creative license while trying to appease three governmental units with different agendas. Narrowing down from a near 700 page script to one that could be produced over a three hour time period, this feature takes a look at both the historical as well as cinematically-adapted aspects of that day and runs roughly 90 minutes.
Tora! Tora! Tora! is an featurette that originally aired on AMC as part of its “Backstory” series. Whereas the History Channel documentary focuses on the actual history, this focuses on the behind the scenes stories that have come out years later. Running roughly 21 minutes, it’s an interesting look at a controversial film and its rather storied production.
Ten “Fox Movietone News” clips is a reach into the annals of history as old footage of Pearl Harbor and its aftermath are included. It’s rather interesting to see news from the time as compared to how the news is conducted now.
Theatrical Trailers for Patton, The Longest Day and Tora! Tora! Tora! are included.
Behind-the-Scenes and Production Galleries
Score : 9 / 10
