Product: Midway (Collector's Edition) (1976)
Rating: 4.0
Needs a remake, but one of my favorites
Not much I can add to the battle's decisive outcome and how it altered the course of the Pacific war. What was stacking up as another in a string of decisive Japanese naval victories in the Pacific was turned on it's head through masterful intelligence, leadership, instinct, and luck. Just six months after the humiliation of Pearl Harbor, cryptologists of the outnumbered American navy break the Japanese code and decipher their plans for their coming invasion of Midway Island; using the three remaining carriers they have in the Pacific, they set the stage a surprise attack of their own. Having no idea the American carriers would be waiting for them, the Japanese commanders are suddenly forced to make new tactical decisions to deal with a sea battle they had not counted on. And some of those decisions would alter the course of the war and lead to the slow death of the once unstoppable IJN.This movie had a fantastic cast and I have to say was artfully directed. I had two major problems with it. The overuse of stock film footage, most of which comes from other Pacific battles or even other films. A lot of footage is taken from Tora! Tora! Tora! and John Ford's Midway. I'm not sure if the footage was intended to preserve the film's budget or was added in as an artistic choice to press home the fury of real combat. In either case it came across as hacked together and cheap. The second problem was the use of english speaking Americans cast as Japanese officers. While it may have provided a different angle to connect with the Japanese perpective it just didn't feel right. I never stopped thinking of them as actors. Toshiro Mifune, conversely, barely spoke english and his dialogue was later dubbed in. There are fictional characters, Charleton Heston's Captain Matt Garth is fictious as is his fighter pilot son and his boring Japanese love interest. But it's a film crafted to entertain as well as instruct. Otherwise if it followed facts only it would get dull very quickly.But what works is the painstaking historical veracity and an excellent cast chemistry. It takes an otherwise complex and confusing set of events and present them in a way that makes sense and draws you in. Midway was without a doubt one of the most stunning military upsets in the history of modern warfare. In an era before satellites and long range radar the battle's outcome depending on who found who first followed by the right (or wrong) decisions. This film allows you to walk way understanding just how the mighty IJN lost all four of it's carriers at Midway. It doesn't cover everything, there are holes and questions left unanswered, but it does it's job in paying homage to the men who won the battle while also paying it's repects to thier Japanese counterparts. I do think this film needs a remake, it was that important a battle and it's legacy should never be forgotten.