Not as Good as Midway - 1976 version

Rating: 5/10 (17 November 2019)

Sorry to disappoint all those who felt this was a great movie, but it doesn't compare either dramatically or historically accurate as the 1976 movie version of the same battle. It seems to be only a version stemming from a book written by the lead code-breaker in an attempt to beat his own drum ... Attempts to decry its better than Pearly Harbor is lost due to the horrible movie PH was ... It places its main heroics on the Edwin Layton (intelligence) and Dick Best (bomber pilot) instead of the more historically accurate focus on John Waldron (squad commander not portrayed in the movie) who's instincts actually led to the discovery of the Japanese fleet ... The portrayal of pilot Wade McClusky correctly showed his discovery of a solo Japanese destroyer which he followed to eventually catch up with the fleet ... The movie also did a terrible job of setting up the strategic battle plans both from the American and the Japanese points of view ... It failed to emphasize two major elements of the battle - 1) After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese thought it had damaged all the US carriers, 2) Admiral Nagumo's hesitating twice when preparing his carrier's planes first to be configured for an air attack, then changing for a land attack, only to change back for the air - which lost all time to counterattack the US - which destroyed not only his carrier but the majority of the Japanese fleet ... Lastly, while including Doolittle's Raiders, it did an inadequate job of reflecting on their heroics of bombing Tokyo knowing they didn't have enough fuel to return to any carrier or American base but left to crash into the ocean hoping to be picked up ... While this was not definitively part of the battle of Midway it contributed to the Japanese defensives and air support being incapable of proving what it needed for Midway.