Midway Film Review - Roland Emmerich Directs The American Naval Fleet To Victory In WW2

Rating: 10/10 (29 November 2019)

Roland Emmerich takes the action to the Pacific in Midway. When years earlier as Naval attachÃ¨ to Japan, Patrick Wilson's Edwin Layton's advice is ignored by his bosses, and the Japanese had a free shot to take out Pearl Harbor in December 7 1941. And as we know the neutral US then entered WW2. But new Commander of the Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, played by Woody Harrelson, is prepared to listen to Layton, the man who tried to warn Washington, and his code-breaking intelligence staff, in the future. Interestingly a band from one of the sunken Pearl Harbor ships increased the code-breaking team. Their knowledge of music useful in identifying patterns in the intel they picked up. Fascinating. And with Brennan Brown's Joseph Rochefort in charge of the code-breaking team, it felt like The Man In The High Castle alumni with Luke Kleintank. This time on the same team.
Midway wasn't the beginning of WW2, not for Europe anyway!, and it wasn't the end, but I watched a tv programme a while ago that showed how unprepared the US was at the time. Their torpedoes failing even to blow when hitting a Japanese ship. And Japan had a commanding Naval fleet that dwarfed the US. That would rapidly change over the course of the war. But the US had oil, which the Japanese did not have. And fortunately the Pearl Harbor tankers were not hit.
Of the men that will win this battle, Ed Skrein's Dick Best is a maverick in the air. A pilot who practises by cutting off his engine to see if he can still make it. His co-pilot is none too happy about the practise runs! Best's friend was killed at Pearl Harbor and we know he will take his plane to the wire. Much to the chagrin of his superior officer Luke Evans's Wade McCluskey. And Dick's daredevil exploits are what's kept him from promotion. His gutsy dive-bombing will be much needed. And Admiral Nimitz hopes there are more like him when they go after the Japanese Fleet. With pal Clarence Dickinson played by Luke Kleintank, this is an all star cast of sailors and airmen. Dennis Quaid is Admiral William 'Bull' Halsey of the USS Enterprise. I do hope the Star Trek USS Enterprise was named after his ship. And the courageous Nick Jonas as Bruno Gaido, firing a stationary plane's gun at a dive-bombing Japanese plane, to keep his Brothers-in-Arms safe. What a star, and he gets promoted for his services by Halsey. And then walks the plank. All of them heroes and all mentioned at the end of Midway with flying colours.
With Midway Island picked up as the Japanese next target by our former tuba players, god love em; to win the battle was crucial for the US, if it were to fall, Hawaii would be next and then the West coast of the US. But back in Tokyo the Japanese are unaware that their messages are being decoded, and the enemy are crossing the Pacific Ocean to be ready for them. But Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, played by Etsushi Toyokawa, we met him at the beginning in peacetime with Layton, knows they have woken the beast that is the USA.
I wasn't so sure about the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo led by Aaron Eckhart, the Japanese reprisals against the occupied Chinese seemed too high a price to pay for a few bombs on Tokyo. The end credits said that Nimitz did get to sail into Tokyo Bay on the USS Missouri to accept the Japanese surrender. Far more satisfying.
A fun bit of real life trivia was John Ford actually filming at Midway and got more than he could ever have hoped for with his live action filming. And what a feat of engineering when the USS Yorktown holed out after Pearl Harbor, sailed to war in 72 hours. It wasn't just airmen that won this battle.
And Roland Emmerich definitely brings the battle to life, and while I wouldn't turn on the tv to watch an old war film, I thought Midway was fantastic. Very exciting with an excellent cast. I'm not going to pretend that it all seemed like a blur at times, because to the guys on the ground it probably was too. War happens at a ferocious pace and I didn't think Emmrich let anything get in the way of telling the story. The CGI special effects were well done and the photography and sound was breathtaking. I cannot recommend Midway highly enough.