Product: Midway (Collector's Edition) (1976)
Rating: 4.0
Good theme, but way too "Hollywood"
I won't take any more than one star away from this movie for all its faults, because in the end, it's still a very good and entertaining viewing experience. The 'Hollywood effect' is, however, unfortunately present. They do too much with the love story between the American fighter pilot and the Japanese girl, which is okay to draw the popular crowd audience, but for those people, the second half of the movie would seem pointless, even if that IS the important part. I'll also agree with the reviewers that said that the material sampling is WAY overdone. Obviously, the filmmakers had nowhere near the budget of "Tora Tora Tora," so a lot of scenes from that movie were thrown in, and there is a lot of actual combat footage. Now, nothing against the actual combat footage, but it does add a level of disparity to the film. There were quite a few airworthy F4Fs, TBMs and SBDs available at the time, so they could've done the scenes with the actual aircraft types and not had to contend with the level of visual differences.The "English-speaking Japanese" feature is also a big Hollywood turnoff. However, it makes it easier for people who need reading glasses to read the subtitles! It does take away from the realism, though. The filmmakers did paint the portrait of the Japanese as good fighters and not savages, which I liked. But there were some questionable points when comparing this to "Tora Tora Tora." For example, in the latter film, the filmmakers led us to believe that the relationship between Adm. Nagumo and Cdr. Genda was less than warm and cozy, but in this film, they're like best buddies and have nothing but praise for each other's ideas and tactics. There are also some differences in Nagumo's character. In "Tora Tora Tora," he's portrayed as very cautious, not taking any risks that would endanger his fleet. This film does portray him as the fine commander that he was, but also seems to indicate that he was more bold and even somewhat reckless.Overall, however, for all of its faults, "Midway" is a good film. Yes, it's more romanticized than "Tora Tora Tora" and was meant for a more mainstream audience, but it is still an adequately accurate depiction of one of the most important battles of WWII. In a sense, it's a shame that future filmmakers will never be able to make a film about an epic Naval battle again. Warfare has devolved into a more sanguine "civilized nation"-vs.-terrorist deal, with no honor, no heroes, and no sanctity for those fallen.The verdict: Buy this film, but don't expect a picture that's all about the action. It's comparable in a way to the recent film "Pearl Harbor," except far more on-topic and much less concerned with wooing the audience. But it won't be one of those films where you'll think to yourself, "I want those two hours of my life back."