Tora! Tora! Tora!

Tora! Tora! Tora!

List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $7.65
You Save: $7.33 (49%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.69 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases

DVD Cover Information

Movie Reviews of Tora! Tora! Tora!

Movie Review: Good history; good storytelling
Summary: 5 Stars

On December 7, 1941, 350 aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy, in two waves, conducted a surprise attack on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Island, Oahu, Hawaii Islands. While more successful than could have been reasonably expected (who could have known that it really would take the Americans completely by surprise?), it still fell short of being decisive. The Pacific Fleet was devastated in a single air battle that lasted a bit under two hours. In that short time the US lost 21 ships sunk or damaged out of the 90 or so that were at anchor in or near the harbor, or under way near the harbor. This included all 8 battleships assigned to the Fleet. Three of these, the West Virginia, the Oklahoma, and Arizona were sunk. The West Virginia was later raised and returned to duty. Most of the other vessels, including the other 5 battleships, were eventually repaired as well. In addition to ship losses, 188 US aircraft were destroyed and another 159 damaged. Although totals vary, some reports carry human losses at 2,403 dead (including 68 civilians) and 1,178 wounded (including 35 civilians). No matter what the precise totals, they were high.

For all of this damage, it's important to understand what the Japanese missed. Neither of the two Pacific Fleet carriers (Enterprise and Lexington) was in or near port that day, so they were unscathed. Missing the carriers ultimately would prove grievous to Japanese strategy. Moreover, a third wave scheduled to hit harbor installations, repair facilities, warehouses, and fuel dumps on Oahu was cancelled.

The story of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor cannot be told effectively without providing background on why and how it came to be, and the movie does just that. The attack was rooted in the effect the Great Depression had on Japan's economy, which stimulated their desire to control the natural resources needed to fuel their economy; Japanese militant expansionism, which put them on a collision course with the US; and Japanese military culture and tradition, which made them willing to take on a world power significantly their superior and which also believed in initiating hostilities by sudden, overwhelming attack; and the war Europe.

There were many in the Imperial Japanese Navy that understood the fearsomeness of what they were getting into. Ironically, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (Sô Yamamura), the mastermind of the strategy to strike the American fleet at Pearl felt this way.

The movie pointed out that the Japanese diplomatic ultimatum was not presented until after the attack started and points to this as one of the reasons behind the massive US public embitterment after the attack. Hence, Admiral Yamamoto's doleful warning (and the most memorable line from the movie), "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." (The second most memorable line is by an old man fishing while warplanes are practicing their low-level runs, "Navy pilots attract geisha girls, but they frighten the fish." It's the same all over, I guess.)

While it doesn't delve into all of the geopolitical issues as much as it could, it does provide an understanding of the events that led up to the attack and the devastation it caused, with an even-handedness that is refreshing. This starts from the very beginning of the movie where the credits are alternated between the American cast and film crew and the Japanese, and continues throughout the movie as scenes shift back and forth between the Japanese and American perspectives.

Particularly effective is how the movie builds tension as the Japanese plan is put into action, alternating between the Japanese strike force and the Americans. The Japanese fleet sails determinedly through the stormy northern Pacific while the American intelligence staff at the War Department in Washington becomes increasingly frustrated as they attempt to raise the alarm. The Americans' misguided posture is juxtaposed with the almost youthful exuberance of the Japanese flight crews and maintenance teams as they continue their training and preparation shipboard. Their enthusiasm is contrasted with the solemnity of their Shinto prayer and the tension of their senior officers. The tension mounts as the director employs the Gettysburg-esque technique of using maps to show the fleet's progress toward the Islands. It culminates in the dawn launch, with engine exhausts aflame, large formations of planes circling overhead as they form up before departing for the final air leg to their target, and the unsuspecting, unconcerned American fleet awakening on a lazy, sunny December morning in Hawaii, feeling safe.

If there is any noteworthy failing, it is that the move fails to depict the pathos of war - the overwhelming of the base (and presumably the civilian) medical facilities, the pain and suffering of incapacitating injuries, the civilian casualties, the mass of dead, injured, and struggling men in the water, the frantic attempts to escape by men trapped below decks in sunken and overturned ships.

While it provides an excellent history lesson, the movie also has the look and feel of a good story. The story it tells is two-fold. It tells of the misguided desperation of the Japanese that led them to take on the United States (if their post-war success is any standard for comparison). It also speaks to America's arrogance in 1941. We knew Japan was dangerous, but didn't expect them to come at us the way they did. Our belief in ourselves got in our way. In the end the American deaths at Pearl Harbor resulted from the failure of our imagination. We just didn't think this attack would happen.

Summary of Tora! Tora! Tora!