Notes
Story Synopsis:
With the United States not yet involved in World War II, Rafe McCawley (Affleck) volunteers to fight for the British Royal Air Force, leaving behind his lovely nurse girlfriend, Evelyn (Beckinsale), and his best friend from childhood, Danny Walker (Hartnett). Stationed in Pearl Harbor together, Danny and Evelyn fall in love after hearing that Rafe was shot down and presumed dead. But, Rafe resurfaces just in time for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (a spectacular effects-laden display of history and a backdrop to the love story), and the trio’s troubles are put on hold so they can fight for their country. Following the attack, Evelyn must make her choice as America prepares its courageous retaliation. (Suzanne Hodges)
DVD Picture:
The anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 DVD exhibits a picture that nicely represents the time period from which the movie is set. Images are, at times, softly focused with an old photograph quality. Otherwise, the picture is sharp and impressively detailed, with excellent clarity and depth. The image is smooth, and the special effects are combined seamlessly with the filmed images. Colors are rich and well balanced, with accurate fleshtones, and deep blacks. The color scheme has a natural, vibrant appearance, with deeply saturated hues. Some scenes are highly contrasted, with blown-out whites for a harsh appearance. During the attack on Pearl Harbor, many scenes, like those in the hospital, are smeared to help heighten the confusion that the nurses must have experienced as they tried to focus on their work, instead of their terror. There is a hint of edge enhancement noticed, but its presence is not terribly obtrusive. Pixelization is infrequently detected. The English subtitles, however, are very small, and may be difficult to decipher on smaller home theatre displays. (Suzanne Hodges)
Soundtrack:
The 5.1 soundtrack presentations are a truly remarkable artistic achievement, not only because of the poignant use of dimension and surround sound, but also because of the creativity in crafting the various sound effects for the warplanes, gunfire and the like, as well as recreating the sounds of a pivotal event that occurred 60 years ago. For the shooting of the film, actual artillery and aircraft, including the Japanese Zeros and American P-40s were restored and flown by pilots. These aircraft were subsequently used on special flying missions, for sound recording. Because the engines were authentic, the sounds of the airplanes were the closest possible to those that were actually involved during the war. The same applies to the various artillery, used by the Japanese and the Americans. Credit for this effort is due to the creative teams led by George Watters II at Walt Disney Studios and Christopher Boyes at Skywalker Sound. Some of the sound effects, such as the impact and fly-by of bullets were captured and crafted using more novel sound design approaches. The final re-recording was performed on the Sony Pictures Studios lot, with Kevin O’Connell and Greg Russell at the helm. The end result of this creativity is certainly an impressive sonic rendering of the events subsequent, during and following the attack on Pearl Harbor. As opposed to the apparently aggressive use of volume levels with Armageddon, this soundtrack seems to engage sonic intensity considerably more tastefully, with relatively quiescent moments being conserved with dimension, and spatially aggressive sequences fully utilizing the spatial soundstage. Fidelity is excellent, and a testament to the state-of-the-art recording and mixing facility at Sony’s Cary Grant dubbing theatre. Hans Zimmer’s music score is also an outstanding recording, with a permeating presence throughout the listening space that immerses and engages, along with the signature low-end presence. Another aspect of the soundtrack that is absolutely notable is the distinct clarity and apparently noticeable separation between effects, dialogue and music, even in the midst of the most sonically intense activity. As a result, you can clearly hear the gunfire, and the impact of bullets against metal, while warplanes are flying all around you. This soundtrack is one of the most effective in terms of split surround utilization, particularly with the rendering of aircraft circling around the on-screen action. Additionally, the use of back surround decoding should be of particular benefit with enhancing the sense of space and adding further dimensionality with left-to-right surround pans. Deep bass is very powerful at times, with particular intensity below 50 Hz with substantial use of the .1 LFE. The DTS® Digital Surround version offers a noticeably more prodigious low-end presence, as well as what seems to be subtle refinements in terms of spatial rendering and midrange resolution (noticeable particularly with stringed instruments for the music score). Otherwise, this is an absolute standout soundtrack that is one of the best for home theatre and for delivering the movie sonic experience. The DVD also includes a soundtrack option for Dolby Headphone surround playback (playable through any headphone jack). (Perry Sun)
This Disc Contains The Following WSR-Rated Superb Qualities:
Superb Cinematography
Reference Quality
Superb Color Fidelity
Superb Special Visual Effects Quality
Superb Music Score Recording Quality
Superb Sound Effects Recording Quality
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