Tennessee, 1923. Two childhood friends, Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker, play at being combat pilots in an old biplane. Eighteen years later, both are lieutenants in the US Army Air Forces under Major James Doolittle, and nurse Evelyn Johnson enters their lives. Rafe decides to join the Eagle Squadron, a British unit made up of American volunteers, before the United States enters the war. The friendship between the two men and the romantic triangle binding them grow more complicated until the naval base at Pearl Harbor comes under Japanese attack.

How it was made

Randall Wallace wrote the original screenplay, and Michael Bay directed the film, producing it alongside Jerry Bruckheimer. It was made by Touchstone Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films. Hans Zimmer composed the score, John Schwartzman shot the film, and Roger Barton edited it. Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett and Kate Beckinsale lead the cast, joined by Jon Voight as President Franklin Roosevelt, Alec Baldwin, Dan Aykroyd and Michael Shannon. Running 183 minutes, the film mixes a romantic melodrama with aerial combat and a reconstruction of the attack, presented as a dramatized version with historical liberties. Its final stretch covers the Doolittle Raid, the first American strike against the Japanese home islands during the war.

Reception and legacy

It opened on May 25, 2001, and was a box office success, grossing 59 million dollars in its opening weekend and 449.2 million worldwide, making it the sixth highest-grossing film of 2001. Critics were generally mixed. Its visual effects, action sequences and musical score earned praise, while the acting, script, length and historical inaccuracies drew criticism. That divided response showed in the awards: it received four Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Sound Editing, and six Golden Raspberry nominations, including Worst Picture. It was also nominated for Golden Globe Awards.

Stills

Trailer

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Trivia

A composite character

Captain Harold Thurman, played by Dan Aykroyd, is a fictional character who blends traits of several real individuals. General Nishikura, played by John Fujioka, is also a composite figure.

A real squadron

The Eagle Squadron that Rafe joins was a real unit of the Royal Air Force made up of American volunteer pilots during the Battle of Britain.

More films by Michael Bay

Transformers2007

Transformers: Dark of the Moon2011

Armageddon1998

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen2009

Transformers: Age of Extinction2014

The Rock1996

Original Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (es) and Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.