Midway (the movie)

[uwe]

I went by myself so no one could blame me for having been dragged into a crap movie. Roland Emmerich films are risky that way and can be incredible junk. Occasionally - very occasonally - he hits on something good, probably more by accident than anything else.

But I stand corrected: Midway turned out to be an old-fashioned, even archaic war movie with modern CGI. But it is a good old-fashioned war movie - straightforward storytelling going from A to B without any artsy embellishments - with breathtaking, intricate modern CGI. Watching this movie is like flying a Dauntless dive bomber yourself, the sheer physicality of a dive bombing attack in an age before there were G-suits or the athletic strain of being a tail gunner - this movie brings it across like no other film I've seen. Same goes for the naval battles and the carrier landing and take-off scenes.

The cast is well-chosen und credible - they even look like the historic figures they are to represent. And I don't give a flying flamingo if an English actor can do a realistic New Jersey accent. (That seems to be the main pastime of English and US film critics, the reciprocal derision at the perceived inability of American actors doing Brit accents and vice versa.)

The movie tries to be so historically und military-technologically faithful, it has something of a docu-drama, but in a good way. I learned quite a lot about that legendary naval battle that turned the war fortunes in the Pacific.

Finally, while this is - deservedly - a movie about American courage and American heroes, the Japanese are fairly portrayed (also why they saw themselves compelled to wage war against a nation they knew they could never ever conquer, but believed to be able to short-sharp-shock into an armistice at their terms).

The film also shows the attack on Pearl Harbour as an historic introduction to what happened afterwards - it does so in a so much more convincing way than that train-, errm ... battleship-wreck of a film, the 2001 Pearl Harbour with Herr Affleck and  Frau Beckinsale in that - admittedly cute - nurse outfit.

Recommended.

[TBird1958]

I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't seen it yet, I appreciate the review and will make it happen in the next week or so. Midway was a the pivotal point of the Pacific war - In 5 minutes Japan's fortunes disappeared, and while they certainly would battle (and defeat, in several fierce night engagments) the U.S. Navy around Guadalcanal the die was cast to a long, bloody defeat.  To my knowledge, never in military history have the fortunes changed so completely in such a short time - 5 minutes that changed everything, the Gods of War certainly smiled upon the U.S. that day.   

[gearHed289]

I saw the one in '76 in SENSURROUND! Which meant a bunch of 18'' Cerwin Vegas in the theater. BOOM!

[uwe]

I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't seen it yet, I appreciate the review and will make it happen in the next week or so. Midway was a the pivotal point of the Pacific war - In 5 minutes Japan's fortunes disappeared, and while they certainly would battle (and defeat, in several fierce night engagments) the U.S. Navy around Guadalcanal the die was cast to a long, bloody defeat.  To my knowledge, never in military history have the fortunes changed so completely in such a short time - 5 minutes that changed everything, the Gods of War certainly smiled upon the U.S. that day.

There should be a gold memorial for the SBD Dauntless - ugly duckling that it was - in Washington. A lumbering, outdated two-seater knocking out two of the most modern carriers of their time. Kind of what that Swordfish biplane did to the Bismarck.

[TBird1958]

There should be a gold memorial for the SBD Dauntless - ugly duckling that it was - in Washington. A lumbering, outdated two-seater knocking out two of the most modern carriers of their time. Kind of what that Swordfish biplane did to the Bismarck.

Two? That day all four of the Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk by the Dauntless. The Amis never had a better performance from their dive bombers than the one at Midway, the Dauntless' replacement, the Curtiss "Helldiver" was universally disliked by pilots, crews and ship's captains as it was a POS of a plane!

[uwe]

Two by one single Dauntless! Dick Best flew two sorties with the same plane and scored every time, a feat never done before and never after. Plus ruining his lungs in the process due to faulty oxygen supplies. 





But you sunk four all in all, no slight intended! The Helldiver was unpopular indeed, though a lot of its unpopularity had to do with its rushed introduction and the ensuing teething problems which were all ironed out by the end. But by then the age of the dive bomber had come to an end as precision bombing from higher altitudes became more accurate.

[TBird1958]

Ah, so.
Luck was with Amis that day, Mr Best was nicely cast BTW, I really do need to go see that movie, again thanks for the review. 

[uwe]

Dave, wasn't your dad a tail gunner in the Pacific? On a Dauntless?

[Dave W]

Dave, wasn't your dad a tail gunner in the Pacific? On a Dauntless?

He was, but I don't know what plane.

[uwe]

Dave! I know he didn't like to talk about his war experiences, and that's ok, but you never ever asked about the type of plane?! A Dauntless dive bomber (at least at one point in his career) or a torpedo bomber is pretty likely if he was with the Navy on a carrier.

[Dave W]

Dave! I know he didn't like to talk about his war experiences, and that's ok, but you never ever asked about the type of plane?! A Dauntless dive bomber (at least at one point in his career) or a torpedo bomber is pretty likely if he was with the Navy on a carrier.

He was Army Air Corps. No, I never asked, never was that interested and he wasn't willing anyway.

There were photos of his plane. If they still exist, they're in unsorted boxes in Philadelphia, where one of my sisters has them.

[uwe]

Probably a two engine bomber then.

[BTL]

I saw the movie tonight and loved it!

My stepfather was a tailgunner and then a radio man in a TBF Avenger squadron stationed in Opa Locka, FL.

He was stationed there just a few months after Flight 19 disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle.

[TBird1958]

Probably a two engine bomber then.

B-25 time.

They fired this thing up and flew it, one very LOUD airplane.

[TBird1958]

I did finally see this last night, it was very well done and I enjoyed that casting a lot, who would have thought Woody Harrelson as Admiral Nimitz? Dennis Quade as William Halsey?  I've read a lot on this specific battle and the movie does cover it well, though I feel it concentrates a little too much on Dick Best, not much mention of the huge loss of life amongst the U.S. carrier torpedo groups, it's shown but not well explained, same for the fliers from Midway. The one blatant error was the depiction of the B-26 group dropping bombs, there were only four planes in the group not the 6 shown, and they carried torpedoes not bombs.
All taken in, I really liked the movie, the CGI was actually best in the flying scenes showing the U.S. carriers, the USS Enterprise specifically.