---The movie begins with a plane crop dusting in Tennessee in 1923 and two kids pretending to be pilots in a fighter. They get into their fathers plane and accidentally start the plane and go down the runway strip until they manage to stop it when one kid is dragged away by his father and the other kid hit him with a plank.
---It then goes to 1940 with two fighters in training who are doing some hotshot moves and they turn out to be the two kids. They get in trouble and one talks them out of it. They get accepted to the Eagle Squadron in England but the major asks them to stay to get into the war.
---It goes to them in a medical test and the older friend talks his way out of failing a eye exam. He then tries to ask out the nurse as he gets a shot. He had already had the shot and he passes out and busts his nose. He has drinks with the nurse and the cork shoots him in the nose. This is when the nurses get there and they have a party.
---Rafe says that he is going to go to the Eagle Squadron and he promises Evelyn, one of the nurses, that he will come back. He leaves for England just as Evelyn gets there but she doesn’t see him in the train. He gets to England and is put into the Royal Air force and gets a plane that had someone shot in it.
---At the same time Japan is planning a major attack on Pearl Harbor. Danny and Evelyn are transferred to Pearl Harbor. Rafe writes to Evelyn as he is shown fighting German planes. Rafe and his squad take on incoming bombers and fighters taking down a few but he is shot down. Danny is betting on a boxing match and he goes to tell Evelyn the bad news. They sit in the park and talk about everything that Rafe did. Then they have drinks for grieving. Japan is training for the attack. Washington gets the Japanese messages that they are using to confuse the Americans.
--In my opinion it worked very well and no one knew what was going on.
---Three months later Danny watches a informative movie about the war that says that the Pacific isn’t the threat and Danny goes to the diner with Evelyn. They seem to bond and Danny goes to Evelyn’s to return her handkerchief. The Japanese fleet seems to disappear and they are under radio silence. Danny is sighting in machine guns and he says he is falling for Evelyn as she comes toward the bunker. He takes her up in his plane and they watch the sunset from the air. They start a relationship.
---There are Japanese scouts photographing the battleships who are helping plan the attack. The Navy still thinks that the Japanese are still moving south but that they might be moving toward Pearl Harbor. Meanwhile the Japanese are continuing to near Hawaii as the Navy is put on full alert. A local dentist is heard talking to someone about what ships are on the island.
--I think that up to this point the Japanese were very smart about the way they were planning the war to not let anyone know about them.
---Evelyn finds out the Rafe is still alive. He was rescued floating on a piece of driftwood and he comes to Pearl Harbor. He finds out about her and Danny and storms off. He gets drunk with all his buddies and they get up in each other’s faces and start to fight. They manage to get away while the Japanese are drawing very close. They seem to be a little nicer to one another.
---The next morning Japan starts it attack. The radar picks up some planes that they think is friendly B17s and a Japanese sub is sunk. The Japanese destroy their code machines while the US still doesn’t know what is nearly there. The Japanese fly across the island toward the base. The two friends are awakened by the sound of the planes as they start torpedo bombing the ships. A bomb hits the armory on one ship and explodes inside the Arizona. Danny drives them toward the airfield while the battle rages. US forces try to get into the air while the Petty officer Miller goes from his position of being a cook to helping rally the troops and takes over an antiaircraft gun. The nurses scramble to get everything out and ready for the wounded that are to be coming. The airplanes are being destroyed and the battleships are being overwhelmed. The two friends drive to the mechanic shed that they have a few planes.
---There are dead and wounded everywhere while Japanese shoot even the people in the water. Danny and Rafe set up defensive positions by the mechanic shed. Rafe and Danny get into the air and manage to shoot down a couple planes. The Japanese decide not to launch the third wave.
--I think their decision to stop the third wave was really stupid of them and they could have destroyed the fleet but it was nice of them.
---The hospitals were overwhelmed. Rafe and Danny find Evelyn in the hospitals to try and do what they can to help. People work to cut the men out of the ships. The President declares war and plans to bomb the heart of Japan. It shows all of the funerals being held and Danny and Rafe being resigned to the new mission. Evelyn reveals that she is pregnant with Danny’s child. They both get promoted and the Silver Star. They are assigned to learn to fly bombers off of a carrier and be able to fly them low across the ocean. Just before the bombing they paint on the bombs personal messages and put the Japanese friendship medals on them.
--I thought this was pretty funny and that it was a fitting way to give them back to the Japs.
---They have to launch early due to a Japanese patrol reporting them and they strip out everything that they don’t need to get more fuel for the extra distance. They make it to Japan bomb Tokyo. Japanese Flack guns open fire on the bombers. They run out of fuel and crash land into a rice patty. There are Japanese troops everywhere when they land and Rafe runs to Danny’s plane. A bunch of troops set on them and they are taken prisoner. Danny jumps in front of a bunch of bullets to save Rafe and is mortally wounded.
---Danny tells Rafe to have someone else write his name on his tombstone and he replies that he is going to be a father and Danny tells him to be the father. Rafe goes into the hills to the Chinese allies and the survivors go back to the mainland. The raid showed America that they could in fact win and Miller was the first Black to get the Navy Cross.
---It ends with Rafe and Evelyn with their son Danny at Danny’s grave and then they go fly off into the sunset.
---I like the movie even though it was three plus hours long. It showed me how badly the battle affected America and all of the destruction it caused. I liked how it was able to portray the war through the eyes of two men who knew nothing but flying. All in all I thought it was an excellent movie.
Preparing for the raid
Comments