Great War movie!

Rating: 9/10 (14 November 2019)

Midway Is an WWII war movie made by action blockbuster writer/director Roland Emmerich (Independents Day,2012, Godzilla and The Day After Tomorrow). Emmerich is known for his dazzling special effect and this film does not disappoint.
The film portrays the events that led up to the turning point of the War in the Pacific "The Battle of Midway".
I have read that this version of the story is more historical accurate than the 1976 Charleston Heston classic. The film mainly follows two (real life) American soldiers, pilot Lt. Dick Best (Ed Skrein) who led his dive bomber squadron at Midway, and intelligence officer Lt. Comm. Edwin Layton (Patrick Wilson) who with his code-breaker team predicted the Midway attack. The film also has other famous American soldiers: Admiral Chester Nimitz (Woody Harrelson) Commander in Chief of the US Pacific Fleet; Vice Admiral William "Bull" Halsey (Dennis Quaid) who led the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise; Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance (Jake Weber) who took over the Enterprise for the Battle of Midway; Best's fellow aviators Lt. Comm. Wade McClusky (Luke Evans), Lt. Comm. Eugene Lindsey (Darren Criss) and Lt. Comm. Jimmy Doolittle (Aaron Eckhart); cryptographer Commander Joseph Rochefort (Brennan Brown) and Aviation Machinist Mate Bruno Gaido (Nick Jonas).
The film moves quickly through the events in the early months of the War., from the attack on Pearl Harbor, to Doolittle's Raid on Tokyo (April 1942) and the Battle of Coral Sea (May 1942).
The side of the Japanese Imperial Army and their unique military culture were also given fair screen time in this film. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (Etsushi Toyokawa) of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Commander in Chief of their combined fleet, was portrayed with calm and quiet dignity. We also get to meet other Japanese officers and their own brands of leadership Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi (Tadanobu Asano) who commanded the Hiryu with nobility, and Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo (Jun Kunimura) whose controversial battle decisions had negative impact against the Japanese campaign.
As I said before the battle scene were fantastic, and the acting was top notch. May bestest complaint was how it jumped quickly from screen to screen and battle to battle. I would have also liked to see the Japanese counter attack that led to the destruction of the USS Yorktown, which was something the 1976 film did well. The Charleston Heston film is one of my favorite War films (even if it was not accurate). So this film had a lot to live up to, and it did! The film does have a 2 hour 18 minute run time (which is 6 minutes longer than the original). This is a PG film so there is no graphic violence, so it's fit for the whole family.
With this past weekend being Veterans Day, avoid the critics reviews, are check out a great movie.