Review of Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) by Harry W — 17 Oct 2013

I heard about Tora! Tora! Tora! through researching another film chronicling the same event, which was Michael Bay's godawful Pearl Harbour. I figured it couldn't possibly be as bad as Pearl Harbour and that some good old action scenes would prove entertaining.

Tora! Tora! Tora! makes a promising intro as it goes into an explanation as to the the background of the bombing of Pearl Harbour without becoming excessively reliant on words. Unfortunately soon after it contradicts this and spends 100 minutes of the film with excessive uninteresting dialogue with too many characters and none to get attached to with the tiny benefit of some aviation footage along the way, too tiny to even slightly overshadow 100 of some of the most boring minutes in film history. I mean, the long period before the action took place in Michael Bay's Pearl Harbour wasn't even this long. It took about an hour to get started, and when Michael Bay's Pearl Harbour is better than Tora! Tora! Tora! in any way, that's when you know something is wrong. Michael Bay's Pearl Harbour was even entertaining because of how bad the quality was, whereas in Tora! Tora! Tora! it's just excessive in its words and too boring to stand sitting through. And for a film proudly advertising its action sequences as the highlight of the film, Tora! Tora! Tora! suffers from false advertising.

The musical score in Tora! Tora! Tora! is also misused because it only really takes place when dialogue sequences are transitioning and while it could have been used in the intense action sequences instead, it is not. It leaves no intensity, no gripping tenacity at all to assist the action scenes, and even the actors don't make it convincing since they are bereft of the skill to make Tora! Tora! Tora! rise beyond its one dimensional artificiality.

Tora! Tora! Tora! does manage to deliver some good action though.

The action is really ahead of its time. Although making use of the limitations of the time such as transitioning between action and the reactions of the people suffering constantly, it still manages to work. It rises to the epic scale that the cataclysmic events of 1941 Pearl Harbour were really all about. The cinematography and editing is great, and save from the actors, Tora! Tora! Tora! manages to really make it seem convincing. The explosions and crashes and such are all very well executed, and the aviation choreography is excellent and filmed to precision.

And Tora! Tora! Tora! is historically accurate and goes into an understanding of how America ignored the Japanese threats and why Japan bombed Pearl Harbour. It's a true story, just not the most entertaining one.

Martin Balsam and Jason Robards also do a decent job in their performances.

Plus the Japanese cast is good at doing what they did, and the final shot was great how it leaves the story just before the war took off after the bombing on a high note, so Tora! Tora! Tora! doesn't end in a bad position.

But Tora! Tora! Tora! is a largely boring and doesn't balance dialogue with action, instead separating itself into two films: a boring political drama and a powerful action film. The latter is worth seeing Tora! Tora! Tora! to view, but the former prevents it from being a good film overall.