Midway (2019) vs. Midway (1976): and the winner is...

Rating: 7/10 (30 November 2019)

"Midway" (2019 release; 138 min.) brings the story of the WWII battle of Midway. As the movie opens, it is "December 4, 1937", and British, US and Japanese dignitaries are exchanging toasts in the name of peace. We then go to "December 7, 1941", as the Japanese are starting to attack Pearl Harbor... At this point we are 10 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: this movie is directed by Roland Emmerich, yes, he of "Independence Day" (and its sequel), "2012", "White House Down", and so on. That is really all you need to know to put this latest version of "Midway" into perspective. Character development is minimal, but who cares anyway, as we all await the battle scenes. Once they come, starting with Pearl Harbor and culminating in the movie's last hour with the actual battle of Midway (on June 4, 1942, amazingly only 6 months after Pearl Harbor), all restraint is thrown overboard, and it's almost an assault on the senses. And yes, quite enjoyable. The thing is that the battle scenes are perfect, frankly too perfect. Think of it like watching video games on steroids. I can't help but think back to the 1976 movie of the same name covering the same events (starring Charlton Heston and Henry Fonda), when CGI was not available and the movie makers used other means (including actual archival footage from the battle). While I enjoyed the Roland Emmerich re-imagination of Midway better than I expected, I nevertheless feel that the 1976 movie is slightly better, or perhaps I should say that it feels more realistic. Please note: Emmerich financed this $100 million production movie independently outside the Hollywood studio system, and he ended up getting a sizable part of the budget financed through Chinese investors. That comes at a cost of course, and hence the script makes a couple of unnecessary, if not questionable, detours into China's role (?) in the battle of Midway. A darn shame.
"Midway" opened wide several weeks ago, and I finally got around to seeing it. The Friday matinee screening where I saw this at the day after Thanksgiving was attended okay (about 20 people in a large theater). If you have an interest in WWII and/or in big budget war movies, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.