--- title: Watch the Honest Trailer for Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor description: The cultural critics at Screen Junkies are back and this time they're taking Michael Bay to task for Pearl Harbor. canonical: https://time.com/4177575/honest-trailer-pearl-harbor/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-12T21:11:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:28:38.497Z og:title: The Honest Trailer for Pearl Harbor Reminds You It Was an Actual Event og:description: "Experience a Michael Bay fan fiction version of history" og:url: https://time.com/4177575/honest-trailer-pearl-harbor/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Honest Trailer for Pearl Harbor Reminds You It Was an Actual Event twitter:description: "Experience a Michael Bay fan fiction version of history" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Honest Trailer for _Pearl Harbor_ Reminds You It Was an Actual Event  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 12, 2016 9:11 PM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 12, 2016 9:11 PM UTC The [cultural critics](http://time.com/4071857/jurassic-world-honest-trailer/) at [Screen Junkies](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOpcACMWblDls9Z6GERVi1A) are back and this time they’re taking Michael Bay to task with an [honest trailer](http://time.com/4127030/fantastic-four-honest-trailer-michael-b-jordan-kate-mara/) for _Pearl Harbor_, the director’s 2001 war drama that starred Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett and Kate Beckinsale, and recreated the events of Dec. 7, 1941\. “Before he cashes in on the tragic loss of American lives in his Benghazi movie, revisit Michael Bay’s attempt to cash in on the loss of even more American lives in Pearl Harbor,” the voiceover begins as footage of Bay’s upcoming _13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi_ appears. **Read More:** [The Honest Trailer for _Star Wars: A New Hope_ Gives A New Perspective](http://time.com/4116890/star-wars-a-new-hope-honest-trailer/) The trailer wastes no time taking shots at Bay’s retelling of the Pearl Harbor story. “You think you know the real story of what happened when the Japanese attacked that fateful day, but you have no idea that it was actually just the backdrop to a stupid, campy, made-up love triangle,” the narrator says. It then goes on to talk about the disrespectful nature of the movie: “Strap in for a three-hour, $140 million film that cost as much to make as the actual rebuilding of Pearl Harbor, lasts a full hour longer than the actual attack, managed to offend both U.S. and Japanese veterans, and, most tragically of all, gave a Michael Bay movie its first and only Oscar win.” Watch the full trailer above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4177575/honest-trailer-pearl-harbor/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4177575/honest-trailer-pearl-harbor/"},"headline":"The Honest Trailer for Pearl Harbor Reminds You It Was an Actual Event","datePublished":"2016-01-12T21:11:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:28:38.497Z","description":"\"Experience a Michael Bay fan fiction version of history\"","url":"https://time.com/4177575/honest-trailer-pearl-harbor/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","films","honest trailers","Pearl Harbor","screen junkies"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4177575/honest-trailer-pearl-harbor/","name":"The Honest Trailer for Pearl Harbor Reminds You It Was an Actual Event"}}]}] ```