Disappointing, reminds me of "Pearl Harbor"

Rating: 5/10 (23 December 2019)

For me, "Midway" is a frustrating film because the source material has so much potential but what we get is so lackluster in comparison. In many ways, I am reminded of the (awful) 2001 "Pearl Harbor" film, which was over-expository and spent far too much time creating and following around flimsy 1-dimensional characters that the viewer is supposed to care about (but really, we don't) in a series of tear-jerking moments as opposed to really telling the story of what happened that day. And despite the obvious lesson there, "Midway" inexplicably goes down the exact same path.
There is a youtube video by a user called 'montemayor' that explains the battle for Midway from a strategic point of view, and that video is unironically more compelling and entertaining then this film. The Japanese were faced with several really tough and crucial decision points on that day, and "Midway" managed to miss or ignore all of them. The main one of these, which the aforementioned video calls "Nagumo's Dilemma" is that he had a choice between launching strike aircraft against the American fleet or waiting to land and refuel his initial strike force against the island of Midway, and risk having to ditch the entire 97 plane force into the sea. He decided on the latter, and thus became a fat sitting duck with a hold stuffed with planes and bombs.
Instead on focusing on these compelling things, "Midway" gave us shots of weepy wives and what Admiral Nimitiz was up to. I'm surprised they didn't include the "Admiral Nimitiz visits the lavatory" scene. The battle scenes they did provide were confusing and video-game like (absolutely NOT realistic) in an attempt to dazzle the audience as opposed to the more difficult task of story-telling. I think the only hope one has of enjoying the film is if you are completely ignorant of the actual events of that day and can then attempt to enjoy the film 'as-is." Also check out that youtube video, seriously.