It’s kind of amazing to me that many people have no idea what the movie “Midway” represents. I guess it’s understandable, as I don’t think schools today delve into our country’s military past. I like to believe students are taught about the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, but what about all the battles and wars in between? Are conflicts outside the US borders not worthy of being taught?
So, quick World War 2 history lesson, at the Battle of Midway, the US Navy decimated and halted the Japanese Naval Fleet in the Pacific. Up until that point, the Japanese had nearly broken the backbone of the US Pacific Fleet. After Midway, the Japanese could only react to the US Naval attacks; just the opposite of the Japanese fleets ability prior to Midway. The Battle of Midway occurred just about six months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which destroyed the majority of the US Fleet.
Our movie begins in December 1937, with a state dinner attended by both US and Japanese military and government officials. Here we are introduced to naval intelligence officer Edwin Layton and Admiral Yamamoto, the Commander and Chief of the combined Japanese fleet of WW2. The Admiral quietly warns Layton, if Japan’s oil reserves were threatened; action would be taken by the Japanese government. Layton (think of him as today’s Jack Ryan) understands the veiled threat and spends the next few years trying to warn his superiors, but his words fall on death ears.
That is until, December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor is bombed.
Midway, is a movie with A LOT of battle scenes, A LOT of CGI, with a script that lends itself as a link between battles.
Don’t get me wrong, the warship battle scenes and the aerial warplane scenes are frighteningly good. The scenes in the temporary morgue, showing the realistic damage done to human bodies maimed and burned beyond recognition tells us the truth about the cost of war.
Midway has a very large cast, but quite honestly, I didn’t feel particularly drawn to anyone. It’s difficult to have so many actors, and be vested into their individual stories. I would love to have seen more of Lt Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, the commander of the Tokyo raid, which was such an important part in Chinese and US relations. And Dennis Quaid as Admiral Bull Halsy, but all we know is he had a terrible case of the shingles, and was pulled from command by Admiral Nimitz, played by Woody Harrelson. We are given the most insight into Nimitz, but I still left wanting to know more. What they should of spent more screen time on were the code breakers, who though only on screen for two minutes, seemed much more interesting than the majority of other characters.
The vast majority of scene time is directed to the young aviators lead by Squad Leader and Executive Officer Dick Best, played by Ed Skrein. Think of Dick Best as Tom Cruise’s Maverick character in Top Gun, a reckless ass of a pilot, who is president of his own fan club. Honestly, after awhile I kind of zoned out after the first few scenes of his “let’s go kill the Japs” ranting’s.
In an attempt to show both sides of the battle, half of the movie is focused on the Japanese naval war and we are introduced to loads of more characters. The Japanese characters actually speak Japanese, be prepared for subtitles. How cheesy would it of been to have them speaking perfect English? But as thankful as I am they were speaking Japanese, the characters themselves are typical cliché Japanese, lots of saving face, not speaking out of turn, bringing shame etc.
And the Japanese aren’t the only clichés here. The 1940 military man machismo is just too overdone, which is another reason I never felt vested. When one pilots wife excuses herself to “powder her nose”, OMG is she going to take off her white cotton gloves before she powders?
Don’t get me wrong, this movie doesn’t skimp on its action scenes, it was done well but too often. It’s the characters and their lack of development that drags this movie down.
The one thing I did enjoy, was before the credits, the real life person is shown next to the actor portraying them, and an update of their life after the war is shown on screen.
I don’t believe this movie will appeal to the general masses, and I don’t see how it will sell enough tickets to make it profitable. I really wanted to see this movie, but after awhile I started to bemoan, here comes another dogfight…didn’t we just have one?
Midway, a masterpiece in CGI, is rated C+. The plus is because of the CGI, and for telling a very important part of our country’s history. FYI bonus scenes are available during the end credits, but not worth staying for, unless you want to watch over three minutes of a 1940’s cabaret singer performing in an USO club. I stayed and wish I had those three minutes back.
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