A Great War Film

Rating: 8/10 (15 November 2019)

I am usually a big fan of war films so I was excited to see Midway and I have to say I really enjoyed the experience of watching this film. The premise of the film sees after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour a group of US Forces have to predict the Japanese next attack and hit them first. Ed Skrein plays the main character in this film and I thought he did a really good job in the film, usually he has been known as a good supporting actor but he steps up here and I thought did a good job in the lead. I cared about his character and he was a protagonist that was easy to sympathise with along with a huge cast of good performances. Patrick Wilson plays a big character in this film as the head of intelligence and I thought he did a really good job, you just see how the pressure is affecting him throughout the movie and he was an interesting character in this film. Luke Evans is one of my favourite actors and he does a really good job in the film, Skrein and him have some tension in the film but you can tell their is respect there and you do still care about his character. Woody Harrelson and Aaron Eckhart have smaller roles in this film and they both fit their roles well. Alos a shout out to the Japanese actors who do really good work with the material that is given. The story is your usual War film and does a good job of making you care about the American heroes and their plight. However, I felt like for a part the film tries to make this film from a bit of a balanced perspective between the US and Japan but then the film moves away from it and makes the Japanese seem evil and The US as the conquering heroes which I thought was a missed opportunity. The script has some really good drama in it and a nice use of humour to flesh out the characters, I also liked how their was a strong use of Japanese as it actually made sense for the film. The style is visually pretty stunning, the battle scenes look absolutley brilliant and they will keep your eyes on the screen. But I felt like this film had a bit of a pacing issue keeping you fully invested in the whole of the film, including the film going a bit longer then was unneccessary. Overall this is a great tribute to the real life events and a great action film that is worth a watch.