Emmerich did his homework!

Rating: 10/10 (17 November 2019)

As a student of history, whose interest was originally piqued as a kid by the 1976 version of Midway (which told a great story, with great actors, but was also one rolling anachronism with little attention to historical accuracy or detail), I was completely mesmerized.
There are multiple histories written about the USS Enterprise (the CV-6 tragically sold for scrap in New Jersey in the early 1960s, after naval service equalled only by the USS Constitution); the Navy air groups that flew off of her; and the first seven months of the Pacific Theater of World War II - and it is apparent that Tooke and Emmerich have read all of them.
The level of historical detail throughout - from the tension b/t the Japanese Army and Navy about the wisdom of going to war with the US, the hazards (and casualties) of early flight training in SBDs and Devastators, the Feb 1942 hit and run raids on the Marshall's and Gilbert's, the execution of 250,000 Chinese suspected to have hidden the Doolitle Raiders from the Japanese after bombing Tokyo - was remarkable, without even getting to the Midway battle scenes. And of course, I was impressed when they showed a doomed B-26 just miss wiping out the Akagi's bridge at the outset (history says the plane was flown by Herbert Mayes and a crew of 5 from Midway).
I had to warm up to Woody Harrellson as Chester Nimitz, esp. when Henry Fonda was my previous point of reference, but by the end, I thought the casting was well done on both sides. Patrick Wilson was terrific playing Edwin Layton - Emmerich hit the nail on the head not inventing any stories to try and make the movie more interesting. The history of the time was the story, Layton was perfectly positioned to see it then, and this movie tells it really well.
I could go on about this movie, but just ignore the critics (if you didn't grow up on this history, you'll never be able to appreciate the commitment to accuracy and detail that went into it) and just go see it. I'm grateful that someone finally got the story straight.