Some movies are so bad (speaking from strictly a historical accuracy point of view)…they get worse every time you watch it again. Michael Bay’s forte in staging testosterone fueled action vignettes (note the loud Transformers series) is a cotton candy like draw—alluring and sweet, yet empty and unhealthy.
Unhealthy in this context because you want to overlook the historic accuracy in your quest to just sit back and enjoy the action. “Pearl” works this conundrum on your senses so well. Bay’s staging skills are admirably displayed here. The problem is you just can’t get by the historical errors. Ignoring normal editing snafus endemic in any movie of a certain size and budget, historical details are unforgivable. When you have a reported 135 million reasons to get it right (a $135 million budget), you just can’t make these basic mistakes. Take a look at some of these here and even more here.
If you can spot anymore, send us a note. That is of you dare to lose 2 hours of your life again…