Saginaw | 08 Nov 2019 2:15 p.m. PST |
I just got back from seeing 'Midway' with my brother, his son (my nephew), and his daughter-in-law. My verdict: A VERY good movie! I've seen and own the 1976 version with Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, and Robert Wagner, and have also seen the edited tv version that included the Battle of the Coral Sea and Heston's on-screen love interest, actress Susan Sullivan. I'll always hold the theatrical version in high esteem because of its action, the musical score, and my sentimental attachment to it, but this version by Roland Emmerich appears to stick to the facts of the story and not present them in a trivial way, unlike that 2001 travesty 'Pearl Harbor'. It's been almost five years since I've been to a movie theater, and I can say that CGI seems to have gotten much better since then and, as one would expect, this movie features an eyeful of it up to and in the action scenes. But it doesn't seem to go "over-the-top" like one would expect from an Emmerich movie. The acting is good, but I did hear a few chuckles from some audience members when actor Woody Harrelson first makes his appearance. I'm sure they still remember him from his days on the tv show 'Cheers'. I definitely give it a "thumbs up" because I've seen the 1976 version and I also know the story of the battle and some of the personal stories of the majority of the participants. All in all, the movie seems to keep it "real". |
ochoin | 08 Nov 2019 3:57 p.m. PST |
No spoilers? You mean there's a chance the Japanese win in the movie? Seriously, thanks for the review. It looked good in the pre-release guff but your confirmation makes it a "must see" for me. |
Mithmee | 08 Nov 2019 5:46 p.m. PST |
You mean there's a chance the Japanese win in the movie? Probably not, so I would not go rooting for them. I will be watching it this coming Sunday. |
ochoin | 08 Nov 2019 9:59 p.m. PST |
Speaking from an Australian slang perspective, I wish you Yanks could refrain from using the term, "rooting". |
Ed Mohrmann | 09 Nov 2019 7:16 a.m. PST |
Indeed Ochoin. Has a very different meaning in Oz… |
Mithmee | 10 Nov 2019 7:53 p.m. PST |
Beside that the movie was completely fantastic. Totally worth seeing just wished that it would have been in IMAX. |
Tumbleweed | 14 Nov 2019 3:10 p.m. PST |
Best naval war movie ever. A straightforward telling of the battle itself with an effective prologue at Pearl Harbor. Visually stunning and accurate. Should win an academy award for sound effects. This time they got every single ship scene right with one or two exceptions. A few stereotyped characters, but the acting was pretty solid. Woody Harrelson was surprisingly well-cast and subtle as Nimitz. See it on the biggest screen you can. |
ScottWashburn | 14 Nov 2019 6:45 p.m. PST |
Saw it today and it was okay. Not great, but okay. They tried to cram so much into it that they couldn't do justice to any of the parts. Pearl Harbor, the Doolittle Raid, the Marshall Island Raid, Coral Sea and Midway, all just mashed together end to end. Nothing at all about the search effort to actually find the Japanese ships and during the entire movie we never see one single American fighter! Where are the Wildcats? The Devastators and Dauntlesses are unescorted at all times and have to fight their way through Japanese Zeroes like they are fighters themselves. The amount of flak was also slightly ridiculous. Literally thick enough to get out and walk on :) Still, it was fun and way, way better than Pearl Harbor! :) |
Tumbleweed | 15 Nov 2019 10:25 p.m. PST |
I did a little research and found that for various reasons, the Wildcats didn't do much during the attacks. The Japanese flak did look rather heavy, but then again imagine what it must have looked like to the chaps encountering it. Remember, they're trying to tell a story and sometimes a filmmaker has to exaggerate something to convey a feeling or a reality. It was important to show the Doolittle raid because it was the impetuous that drove the Japanese crazy. They couldn't let something like that happen again, so the Midway venture was a go from that point on. |
Memento Mori | 04 Dec 2019 11:42 a.m. PST |
The great CGI shows that now anything is possible so hopefully we can look forward to more "historical" films featuring good CGI – say Salamis, Jutland etc |
Asteroid X | 07 Dec 2019 12:56 p.m. PST |
I just started to watch a very good movie that ties in with this one – it's entitled 'The Eternal Zero' – 'Eien no Zero' (also known as 'The Fighter Pilot'). YouTube link |
ochoin | 01 Feb 2020 4:43 a.m. PST |
Read some reviews that said the story was fragmented & the acting wooden……& saw it last night.And on a giant screen. Wow. Were those reviews wrong. This is a great war movie (actually, a great movie) & up with 'A Bridge Too Far', 'The Longest Day' & even 'The Great Escape in terms of WW2 flicks. Interestingly, my wife really loved it too & she doesn't much like war films at all. |
Mithmee | 02 Feb 2020 11:34 a.m. PST |
Wasn't fragmented at all. Dunkirk was totally fragmented with how they were trying to tie everything together. From that movie that small boat captain only made one trip and back from Dunkirk. In reality he would have made several trips. |
ochoin | 03 Feb 2020 5:33 a.m. PST |
I will say that both 'Dunkirk' & '1917' are superior examples of cinematography and story telling but 'Midway' is such an exuberant spectacle it ranks alongside even if it doesn't eclipse them. It probably helps that it's a pretty accurate telling of my second favourite naval battle (after Trafalgar). If I wanted to be picky (which I don't) I'd say sandwiching Pearl Harbour, Doolittle & Midway together could be a tad confusing for anyone not conversant with the history of the period. I also think it should have been clearer that the carrier-born torpedo bombers' sacrifice in drawing off the Japanese CAP was what enabled the Dauntlesses to "change history". But hasn't CGI come a long, long way? |