Capsule Review, Minimal Spoilers:

Midway is the dramatic retelling of what was the most decisive battle of the Pacific War portion of World War II. This is the second major motion picture to do so – the 1976 movie Midway had also tackled the subject, using stock footage, and footage from several other films. This Midway uses CGI to accomplish that goal, and it’s mostly effective.

This movie is good, but has its issues. It has a runtime of 2 Hours, 18 Minutes, and tries to cover too man of the events leading up to the battle. There is a large cast, and, to me, was sometimes difficult to differentiate between a few actors, in terms of their roles. I suspect (and hope) that there’s a more complete film, where portions of it ended up on the cutting room floor, but will now reside on the DVD/BR of Extras associated with the film. There are other criticisms that I will discuss in the second part of this review.

I recommend this film for War Film buffs, but with some reluctance. Perhaps I am being too harsh, but I felt it was trying to document the entire Pacific War for the US forces leading up to the battle, and that was too much for this one film.

Main Review, Some Spoilers:

Oh, where to begin. I guess I can discuss the focus of the film. It primarily involves several groups – The Bomber flight crews of the USS Enterprise, one of the most versatile aircraft carriers in the US Fleet, participating in more combat actions than any other ship in Pacific War. It also focuses on the secret code breaking team and its leader, Edwin Layton (Patrick Wilson), as well as the commanders, Admiral Chester Nimitz (Woody Harrelson(!)), Admiral William ‘Bull’ Halsey (Dennis Quaid), and Admiral Raymond Spruance (Jake Weber). On top of them, it also provides a Japanese perspective on the war, via Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (Etsushu Toyokawa), and Admiral Chuichi Nogumo (Jun Kunimura), leader of the invasion and carrier forces respectively. The film jumps around between these groups, and at times, struggles to make them whole characters, not just “an actor in a role”. One can easily appreciate that they are trying to round out the story, but with some of them, the Japanese Admirals aren’t given enough time to properly give them life. It’s not enough time to handle this many people properly. FYI, there are a few women in the cast, most notably Mando Moore, as Ann Best, wife of pilot Dick Best (Ed Skrein). She gives a good performance with her material, but it’s practically lost in the scheme of things.

The film starts off in 1937, where the young Naval attache Layton has a conversation with Yamamoto in an exchange of information, suggesting that Yamamoto’s life is in jeopardy, because he’s not the warhawk that the Army wants controlling the Navy. They’re trying to set the stage for what is to come. Next up is the attack on Pearl Harbor, which is handled far better than that overly dramatic and borderline campy Michael Bay Film. Next, you’re dropped aboard the USS Enterprise, and several pilots are talking about how they’ll spend their shore leave in Honolulu. Then, they jump to Admiral Nimitz being appointed supreme commander of the Pacific Naval Fleet, who talks to Layton to try to bring the movie’s focus back to the subject. Intermingled with this is the Battle of the Coral Sea, with the Enterprise participating, and further events leading up to the fight at Midway. This is now starting sound more like a history lesson than a movie review, so I’ll stop there.

Intermingled with this was Dolittle’s raid on Tokyo. The USS Enterprise was involved in this, only as a support ship, to defend the fleet, in case of attack. Dolittle (Aaron Eckhart)’s tale is told, through his eventual rescue in war-torn China. I do not understand why this was included, other than the involvement of the Enterprise and its air crews, who do nothing on the mission. I suspect the writers were basing their script on a memoir of someone on the Enterprise. I felt it unnecessary to this movie.

Let’s talk about the CGI. It was reasonable, but far from excellent. For more close shots, it’s reasonable, and sharp, but for objects further away, it resorts to fuzzier detailing. Perhaps it was a budgetary issue, but given the nature of graphical detail in video games these days (the game World of Warships, in particular), it could have been rendered better.

My biggest issue with what we see on screen is the Japanese counterattack against the US fleet, or the lack thereof. It’s shown in the preparation of the Japanese carriers, but the next thing you know, the USS Yorktown is damaged by an attack that happened off camera. It’s jarring, and extremely disappointing that they couldn’t show this, in favor of showing Dolittle’s raid and aftermath instead. Will it be included in the Extras? Who knows? Who knows if they even shot/rendered it?

At the start of the film, a title card comes up to indicate that this is based on the facts. It is, but there are some truths that seem glossed over, and others ignored, and that was a bit of a letdown. It IS visually engaging, but, as I mentioned, I wasn’t pleased completely. I also noticed what were apparent flaws in the attack patterns of the planes, but this is just speculation on my part.

I have to reluctantly recommend this movie. It’s a visual spectacular that’s a bit lacking, and the cast is good, albeit overfull.