Pearl Harbor

Right now you can watch Pearl Harbor in Australia on Disney Plus and Stan, and in the US on fuboTV and Philo — and it holds up to as much attention as you give it. The runtime earns every minute, with nothing here that feels like padding. With 7,066 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. Watch it for Ben Affleck — one of the stronger performances out there right now. Available now on Disney Plus — press play and find out why people keep recommending it.

Part of the current wave of titles people are actually watching, Pearl Harbor earns its spot. Pearl Harbor takes its time building the world its characters inhabit, and the patience pays off. The lifelong friendship between Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker is put to the ultimate test when the two ace fighter pilots become entangled in a love triangle with beautiful Naval nurse Evelyn Johnson. But the rivalry between the friends-turned-foes is immediately put on hold when they find themselves at the center of Japan's devastating attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett lead a cast that treats the material with real seriousness. It hit screens in 2001. Pearl Harbor resists tidy resolutions in a way that respects how messy real consequences actually are. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages.

Pearl Harbor is what you recommend to people who say they do not really watch much. If you have run out of similar titles to watch, this is a strong next pick. Best experienced as a single, sustained watch from start to finish. Ben Affleck's work here is the kind that gets referenced in career retrospectives. It makes everything else feel thin by comparison.