"Pearl Harbor," entertaining, action packed

Memorial Day weekend is often viewed as the opening of the summer movie season. This year, for a change, the movie opening on Memorial Day weekend actually had some relevance to the weekend, as "Pearl Harbor" opened up. The movie is the latest from the blockbuster team of director Michael Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. The trailers are a little misleading, but overall the film fulfills the typical summer movie experience.\nIf you have seen any of the trailers for "Pearl Harbor," which I'm sure you have since they've been all over the television, it looks like a great action flick, pertaining mostly to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the American response to it. This only makes up a quarter of the movie. The movie actually combines many different aspects: romance, comedy and action, so there is something for everybody, which is nice. And the action scenes during the invasion are pretty good too, once again reminding us why Bay and Bruckheimer love computer animation so much. The movie also does a good job of bringing in some little-known historical aspects of World War II, such as the Doolittle raids, a suicidal American bombing run on Tokyo which occurred shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Ben Affleck also does a pretty decent job, pulling off the cool flyboy attitude.\nThis is not to say the movie is without holes. The romantic element of the movie is pretty weak. It centers around Affleck's character, Rafe, his best friend Danny, played by Josh Hartnett, and Evelyn, played by Brit actress Kate Beckinsale, who pulls off a good American accent. While I won't give away all the aspects of the triangle between the three, I will say the girl bounces around more than a tennis ball between the two. Another staple of the Bay-Bruckheimer movies that makes an appearance are the sappy scenes they shoot with inspirational music to try to make you proud to be an American, which was also used a lot in "Armageddon." These scenes could be done without, especially in a movie that runs for three hours. \nThe reason you go to movies like "Pearl Harbor" is not because of the plot or the character development, though those would be nice, but you go to be entertained, to get away from the heat and humidity (whenever it might come) and any other troubles you may have. "Pearl Harbor" accomplishes that, and accomplishes it well.