Don't believe the negative reviews!

Rating: 10/10 (9 November 2019)

The most impressive aspect of the film is the amazing cinematography and special effects (including sound) which surpass by a wide margin anything previously attained regarding era warships and naval aviation. You MUST see this in a Dolby equipped theater to get the full body rocking audio and visual experience. Don't settle for a normal theater.
Without question, this is the best movie ever made about the crucial WW2 Battle of Midway which (closely following the American tactical defeat-strategic victory at the Battle of the Coral Sea) forever changed the course of the Pacific War. In fact it is the best movie about World War 2 naval and aviation warfare ever made in terms of visual and audio presentation and historical accuracy.
As a serious albeit amateur historian, I can only offer kudos to the film's fidelity to the facts of the events as they unfolded. Yes, there is truncation of history necessary for translating these sorts of events to film. But the film's creators somehow manage to get right at least 80% of things involved in a very complicated sequence of battle events in a bit over two hours of action packed mind-blowing movie-magic.
I was impressed by the film's steadfast adherence to the facts and actual events and its presentation of the tools of warfare. I might quibble with certain depictions of people and actions, but in the main they get it right. My fears that this might be another abortion like Disney's "Pearl Harbor" or star laden inaccurate version like the 1976 "Midway" were blown away by the fidelity of this effort. The special effects used to show the ships and planes in action are nothing short of marvelous. Bravo!
The weakest aspect of the film are the handful of dramatic interludes of worried loved ones and troubled commanders and portrayals of some of the individuals involved, but even these are tolerable. I should also say that the film doesn't show as much gore as what really happens in combat so it doesn't have the accurate stomach turning scenes as present in "Saving Private Ryan". I didn't mind that.
What drives this film are the action battle sequences showing the destructiveness of the tools of war at the time. They'll knock your socks off! The brief but breath-taking reenactment of the Pearl Harbor attack starts the film off on its roller coaster ride with sequences of ships and planes and people being blasted to smithereens from both the perspective of the fish in the barrel and the folks shooting at them. You see these events on both the micro and macro level. Thankfully, the movie doesn't treat the Japanese as mindless monkeys as so many World War 2 films do and it presents their dilemmas and derring-do quite fairly.
The visual depiction of the planes, warships and weapons of the era appear to have been thoroughly researched and are presented more accurately, beautifully and forcefully than any other film about World War 2.
But it's the action sequences that will have your eyes glued onto the screen and your ears begging for relief (in a good way) and thanking the folks from Dolby. I think many folks will enjoy this picture, especially history buffs.
Don't believe the negative reviews from the professional reviewers. They're looking for auteur, drama, dialogue and art rather than history, audio-visual dynamism... and your own thrilling experience in the theater.