I caught the director's cut of PH a few years ago on HBO without knowing it was the director's cut. WOW. I found it almost unwatchable. Not because it was bad, this is a terrific film either way. It was because of its realism. It didn't really change much of anything in the way of the events of the story, but all battle scenes were shown in extreme gory detail, and I was caught completely unaware. Very well done.
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Well I can't say I love it, but I respect it. It's a realism I don't know and can't fathom (even less than realism probably). The theatrical release may be glossed over and unrealistic, but it's more palatable. At least to me. I couldn't get through Saving Private Ryan for the same reason. I know they're just movies, and I can HANDLE the visuals, but I can't handle knowing this kind of hell happened to and around real people. And much worse, I'm sure.
shareYeah, the director's cut is the superior version! It should've been the theatrical release, why the hell would they release a PG-13 sanitized version of the events of Pearl Harbor with modern day effects? That's like releasing a PG cut of Saving Private Ryan's Omaha Beach sequence lol. It seems disrespectful to me, people need to know what these individuals went through during that time period and that it could happen to any of us even today. I think Pearl Harbor would've been a bigger hit too if they had released the R rated version because that was one of the main complaints of this movie...…..it was too much like Titanic instead of a war film! The R rated version has the right balance in tone of romance and gut wrenching devastation of war. The PG-13 theatrical cut does not have that balance and feels too glamorized and unrealistic......big mistake. For me the director's cut is the only decent and watchable version of this movie IMO. It needs a blu ray release too!
shareI guess they wanted to give it the Titanic treatment. I understand that a movie needs central characters, and they need to give you something to connect with those characters, but in either event, far too much focus (and time) went to the romantic triangle story arc. Leaving the attack on Pearl Harbor (or the sinking of the Titanic) to be just an unfortunate event that gets in the way of the story.
"...why the hell would they release a PG-13 sanitized version of the events of Pearl Harbor with modern day effects?"
My best guess is that maybe they wanted to broaden the demo to include all the giggly little fans of the pretty actors. Gotta sell more tickets. I am not saying I agree with that. I agree with you. At the very least, it should have been GIVEN a theatrical release. It still should. It IS far superior.
Even Wikipedia went so far as to describe this film as a "romantic period war drama."