"Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
"I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire."
So rang the horrifying word of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt a day later. But even before the attack happened, the United States was actively seeking a peace compromise with Japan. The Japanese, however, were much less hopeful that peace would come. They had to take action. The Americans were unaware of what was going on. So too were the ambassadors from Japan, who really had no idea of what their government was up to.
But while the Japanese were planning their dastardly and premeditated attack, the Americans were bungling every attempt to tone down the horrific outcome beforehand or stop the attack altogether.
The Americans intercepted message after message from Japan to its ambassadors, but did nothing with them. They were either written off of ignored altogether... or read and kept quiet...
And so it is that the Japanese deliver a memorandum with 14 points. This memo is rubbished off and the ambassadors are thrown out of Secretary of State Cordell Hull's office. It looks as though this is it. But the Americans don't know it.
The French have surrendered. The British are Europe's last hope. The Americans, meanwhile, are about to get a wake-up call that will rock the country to its very soul.
December 7th, 1941 - the date that will live in infamy - awoke a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.
Tora! Tora! Tora! is more of a docu-drama than anything. And while the film recreates the attack on Pearl Harbour with exceptional horrifying realism, the film is missing one key component: a story. Plot.
There could have at least some story to this historical drama. But we must be careful when adding story, as too much would turn Tora! Tora! Tora! into Pearl Harbor, "a two-hour movie squeezed into three hours, about how, on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese staged a surprise attack on an American love triangle." (Roger Ebert.)
There are no heroes in the Tora! Tora! Tora!. There isn't even a main character. Heck, the closest thing we come to a big star in the picture is Jason Robards who, in seven years would win the first of two consecutive Oscars for All the President's Men. Like the film The Longest Day, Tora! Tora! Tora! is told from not only the American side of the war, but also from the Japanese side as well, having been directed by a Japanese crew. The historical facts are told with Japanese details, not Americans film Japanese details, which make the film all the more realistic.
This leads to the one thing the film does right: presenting the attack on Pearl Harbor with frightening realism. The explosions, the bombings, the battleships, the blunders... it is all accurate and very powerful to watch.
Had all of that gruesome yet powerful detail been teamed with a story, we'd have a great film. Without the story, we have a great documentary.
Plot: 
There is no plot to the film. We know what is going to happen. The Ship will be bombed. There is story to follow, only historical facts, which may get boring at times.
Visual Effects:
The movie won the Oscar for visual effects for a good reason. Tora! Tora! Tora! recreates the attack on Pearl Harbor so realistically, that it should be mandatory viewing for all Social Studies high school classes.
Exceptionally filmed, brutally honest, and frighteningly real (it can't be said enough). Wonderfully accurate.
Sound:
Character Development:
There are no characters to change! The characters in the film are all historical figures who can't change at all. (You can't change history.)
Atmosphere:
While this is a grand recreation, there is no story and so the film may become dull in parts. However the attack is the main point of the film definably worth seeing.
Realism:
There is no need to repeat that this is a frighteningly real recreation. The film presents the facts leading up to and including the attack of Hawaii in true detail, with minimal (if any) deviations from the real facts. Verily, Tora! Tora! Tora! is a grand Hollywood epic, but with it's non-story aspect, it is more of a documentary and looses all Hollwoodism quickly.
Warren’s Rating:
8.29/10 Is the movie worth your time to watch?
05-06-06
