Cringey dialogue, reasonable action

Rating: 6/10 (26 February 2020)

The movie screen is a little wider than 16:9 ratio, but the big screen isn't worth it, nor is a purchase. I'd recommend a rental on a small screen.
The movie is too long. Too much attention paid to interpersonal things like a crying widow at a funeral. I'm sure this happened but it's not necessary for the telling of the story. This is a 2.5 hour movie that only needed to be about 1.75 hours.
In a night club the wife of Lt Best asks to someone (who states in the movie that he isn't in charge of these things) why Best isn't being promoted. If the question was asked in a joking manner it would have been perfect. But the line was delivered with deadly seriousness. It's like the women were injected in this movie to tick a box and add appeal for people who probably wouldn't be interested in it in the first place.
All the dialog was either clichéd, smart-aleky, bravado; or whining and complaining, with almost nothing in between. Over the top bravery, or airmen who didn't want to go out and fight because they just wanted to go back to their families.
There was a small amount of attention given to the fact that the Japanese didn't expect the presence of US carriers, but it should have been expanded much more. I'd prefer if they cut out the recap of Pearl Harbor and Doolittle, and focused more on the Japanese objectives and why they failed. And to give more time to the Midway battle.
Admiral Nimitz (Woody Harrelson seems to be getting dementia) was condescending to the idea that a music band was code-breaking. There was a "really bright guy" who was able to piece together snippets of decoded messages, but they didn't expand on why. He was just smart and should be believed, or not, depending on how people felt that day.
Some historical inaccuracies I didn't mind such as the mountainous terrain of the Marshall islands. One inaccuracy I objected to was when a US airman was captured in China by peasants after the Doolittle raid, every peasant had a top-quality rifle. If this was accurate, and the Chinese were this armed, the Japanese invasion of China wouldn't have been feasible. In reality, most Chinese soldiers didn't have a rifle, let alone peasants.
Another objection was how the Japanese dialog was in Japanese and sub-titled. If they did expand on the telling of the Japanese side of the story as I had hoped, it would have been awkward to read the subtitles - it'd be too distracting.
The parts I liked were the action scenes, the CGI and the attention given to detail such as the levers under the plane that extended when the bomb was dropped. The backdrops and costumes were good (except for some wrinkled uniforms).
Overall it was reasonable. I'd have preferred it if it was a little more like a documentary, with more attention to battle detail and facts, and less cringey dialogue.