If this movie spurs people into reading the history, it's done it's job

Rating: 9/10 (13 November 2019)

Historical films are always difficult to pull off, because history doesn't always fit into a nice Hollywood mold. This is a time period I've always been fascinated by, and Midway is a battle I've read extensively about over the years. This is a moment when the world as we know it would look very different if this battle had another outcome. So for me, it was important that the story be told accurately, as it is a pivotal point in the Second World War.
Did they do that? Yes. The characters they show -- Best, McCluskey, Nimitz, Halsey, Doolittle, Yamamoto, Nagumo, Yamaguchi, Layton, Rocheford, et al, are all real. Unlike other Hollywood historical films (like Pearl Harbor), they didn't mung it up with fake characters and story in order to give some star screen time.
Is the story accurate? Fundamentally yes. While there was some very minor conflation of supporting events, mostly for time, everything that unfolded is true, and I don't think there is anything shown that flat out did not happen (again like in Pearl Harbor).
I thought the CGI work overall was excellent. It added to the story in the right way, and it was amazing to see them bring the Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown back to life. It was incredible to see those classic Dauntless's, Devastators, Mitchells, Zeros, Kates, and Marauders in the air again.
I highly recommend seeing this movie. See it for the history, the story, and for the appreciation of the Greatest Generation. One thing that is undeniable, is that these guys had balls the size of coconuts.