Less obnoxious than Pearl Harbor but strangely less memorable.

Rating: 6/10 (1 June 2020)

Roland Emmerich recreates the Battle of Midway in this updated war epic. World War 2 enthusiasts will enjoy the dogfights and battle scenes. The big cast do a decent job with their respective roles but few leave a memorable impact.
Perhaps the standout is Ed Skrein who plays real life war hero Dick Best. Skrein plays it like a self assured matinee idol from the 1940s, but at least his character has a personality. Dennis Quaid and Woody Harrelson round out the cast as the seasoned officers. Harrelson's fake Nimitz hair looks absolutely absurd.
Although the action scenes are reasonably well done, the visual effects don't look as polished as they did in Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor. Don't worry, this is a better movie than Pearl Harbor but that movie has way better CGI.
The film has modest ambition as a throwback to the ensemble war epics of classical Hollywood with a deliberate patriotic vibe. It mostly succeeds but sometimes feels too safe riding on nostalgia.