Director Michael Bay has created one of the greatest romance/war films of all time.

"Pearl Harbor" takes us on a journey of fact and fiction as we follow a very romantic love story through the good times and the bad. Ben Affleck and Josh Harnett star as childhood friends who joined the military and have become top notch fighter pilots. Kate Beckinsale plays both men's love interest who happens to be a nurse.

The first hour and a half deals with the relationship of the three central characters as well as the events leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Bay creates a sense of tension by combining actual footage that morphs into his film. As each day gets closer to December 7th I got a little more uneasy in my seat. I knew what was coming and I was ready.

The movie is written by Randall Wallace who also wrote "Braveheart". The screenplay is not all USA rah rah and it also makes a point to not paint the Japanese as evil people. It explains that due to the US cutting Japan off of oil, they had nothing else to do but to try and get it back.

The way that the movie shows the Japanese planning the attack along with the how and why of the formations of our boats and planes is also intersting. If we only knew back then what we know today.

Hartnett and Beckinsale give performances that will make them stars and Affleck proves that he is a real talent. Alec Baldwin and Jon Voight also provide strong acting, with Cuba Gooding Jr quite possibly delivering a role that could garner him a nod for Best Supporting Actor.

Hans Zimmer's music once again controls the emotion of the film along with Bay's use of the camera.

The attack on Pearl Harbor are the most intense and gut wrenching scenes of war filmed since the opening of "Saving Private Ryan" and for all of the battle on the ground in that film, this movie shows it in the air, under water and on land.

The scene that rocked me the hardest is that of the bomb being dropped on the USS Arizona, the way the shot was filmed along with the music will be a movie moment I will never forget.

"Pearl Harbor" could have been two really good films, one a love story and the other a war film.

But Michael Bay has put the two together to make ONE AMAZING FILM.