Midway

War films, particularly ones about the expansive and enormous conflict that was World War II, often have a lot of moving pieces and things that they could focus on. 

For the past year or so I've been reading Winston Churchill's World War II accounts. His detailed voice spans over 6 books and thousands of pages. Aside from the fact that I'm really enjoying them, his books have proved that aforementioned belief is true. War is a moving chess board at all times, filled with strategy, sacrifice, opportunity cost, etc. 

The more I read about World War II, the more I can't believe that it actually happened, and less than 100 years ago! It was an era of different people, different men, different women that participated in this grand conflict. One that was very much man vs. man in planes, boats, tanks, and on their own two feet. Incredibly violent and one of the most significant times in human history. 

So yes, you could say I'm a bit of a history buff, and that Midway was a well-timed film for someone reading Churchill's expansive series.

Midway is about how I expected it would turn out, for better or worse, particularly with the over-the-top, but often overly-hammy, Roland Emmerich at the helm. It's not the best war movie you'll ever see - not by a long shot - but I was entertained and it scratched the itch I had to learn more about Midway and the sequence of events that led up to it.

Midway's biggest mistake is that it tries to cram an ungodly amount of content into a 2+ hour film. And worse yet, it takes a bit of a shotgun approach to how it makes sure you know what historical conversation, event, etc. happened. It takes huge diversions for 10-15 minutes at a time before we return back to our main characters. The film basically starts with the attack on Pearl Harbor and spans all the way through the battle of Midway. From a war perspective, that's about 9 months and, despite the film's best attempts to tell you when, where, and who you're watching, it still moves at a breakneck speed. Interestingly, it basically packs Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor (a film I like far more than others it would seem) into probably the first hour or so, including the bombing of Tokyo. I come back to my original statement that when you're covering a war this expansive, it's hard to not get distracted by every little interesting event or factoid and it's clear that Emmerich and his screenwriters didn't resist that temptation. So yeah...there's a lot here. Not all of it is Midway.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I don't believe in ghosts or demons."

"PEW! PEW! I'm a sucker for you!"

Midway also, perhaps shockingly, suffers from some awful special effects, at least for the first half. It's clear that the bulk of the dollars went to the film's back half (more on that later), but the battle at Pearl Harbor looks glossy and animated, Michael Bay's explosion-filled and practical effect-driven set looking way better. There's also green screen in awkward places, like characters just standing or even walking into a townhome in D.C. Could you not have done a quick trip to D.C.? Or made it look far less fake? Also in the beginning of the film we're treated to Ed Skrein coming in real hot with his Jersey accent. I'd like to believe it calmed down over the course of the film because for a moment my initial reaction to his excessive Joysay accent was "Damn, am I going to have to listen to this the entire film?"

Luckily for the film, all the bad parts settle in to a state of being "lesser" than before (Skrein's accent, bad CGI) or acceptable (lack of focus). By the time we're outside of what Bay's Pearl Harbor covered, Midway becomes a significantly better film with an exciting, intense climax. The main focus of the film - and one historical tidbit I learned more about - was dive bombing vs. glide bombing. The film's best pilots are dive bombers and these sequences are honestly some of the best of the year. We're placed in the cockpit of a plane flying from 10,000 feet nearly straight downward straight into enemy fire and flak. It's shocking and engrossing because A) it's here that the film looks fantastic and B) you realize that this actually happened and pilots actually had the balls of steel to to this, in order to get killing blows on gigantic Japanese carriers.

Star Wars battles could learn a thing or two from Midway

The film's cast is impressive without having any true A-listers (other than Harrelson). Skrein feels a lot better in the role once his accent calms down and proves he can do a decent job at leading a film. Patrick Wilson is easily the most impressive because...well..I just generally think the guy is a great actor. Dennis Quaid sounds like he's trying to growl out a Batman impression while the remainder of Aaron Eckhart, Luke Evans, Nick Jonas, Mandy Moore, and others all leave mild impressions without feeling like they're just phoning it in. Given the vast amount of characters that could be considered co-stars of the film, I imagine they all got significant paydays for minimal work but it's nice to have some acting prowess there since the characters themselves, except for Skrein's Dick Best, are all void of any sort of character development or insight.

Someday I wonder when we'll get a multi-season, big budget HBO-esque series on World War II. Perhaps that's not even possible given the scope. But if there's one thing Midway, with it's admirable but unfocused attempt to put a TON of historical stuff in a movie, proves is that the second World War was epic, hard to capture, and constantly in motion. It's not the best war movie ever, but there's more than enough here to warrant a trip to the theater and honor your Veteran's by giving it a view.

CONS

• Tries to take on too much. It spans 9ish months of some of the most pivotal time in World War II and ends up creating small diversions that take away from the core of the film
• Starts off with some very glossy and fake looking CGI
• Feels like it has about 10 endings in the final 15 minutes
• Lack of character development or insight other than Dick Best (Skrein)
• Speaking of Ed Skrein, he comes in real hot with that Jersey accent in early scenes

PROS

• Though it packs a lot in, it's historically very interesting and captivating to see what both the U.S. and Japan were doing during those months after Pearl Harbor
• Based on a true story and - yes it's "Hollywood-ed" up - but generally is accurate in its overall portrayal of what happened
• The battle of Midway is impressive and has far better CGI. The dive bombing sequences are some of the best of the year and I'd argue worth the price of admission alone
• Expansive cast of memorable characters. None get development, sure, but they enjoy hamming it up
• Skrein proves to be a mostly decent lead in what I feared was a miscast role to begin with. He slowly proves me wrong
• The original score kicks in when it counts 

Rath's Review Score | 7/10