Solid portrayal of critical battle with decent acting and excellent effects

Rating: 8/10 (12 November 2019)

Was impressed by the film, which turned out to be better than I expected, certainly better than the 1976 "Midway" and vastly better than Michael Bay's "Pearl Harbor", which I consider to be a cartoon. You get a good history lesson on the first six months of the Pacific war, the portrayal of the intelligence efforts to set the stage for the battle is well done, the acting is decent for this kind of epic movie, and the CGI effects are excellent. Some of the battle scenes are actually terrifying, even though you know how events are going to turn out. Is it a perfect movie? Of course not, some of the inevitable war movie cliches crop up, and some facts get fudged, such as where the actions of U.S. fighter planes in the battle, as noted by others, are completely omitted, but still a good, respectable effort.