New Midway movie:

I am well aware the movie critics vary greatly in preception but the few clips I have seen of "MIdway" give credence to this review and it does not bode well. Shades of "Pearl Harbor"! I hope it is far better than I currently suspect.

Review: 'Midway' turns the WW II battle into a cartoon

 

No surprises there.

 

from the scenes I have seen, it looks like Pearl Harbor = bad..like a computer game

 

Thanks for posting this. I fear the future of war movies will be big computer made action scenes. I know WW2 ships are rare and mostly immobile and Kates are few and far between but with more care, direction and editing I think they came to be made more realistic but them the current audiences may like this approach.

 

..exactly...it's hard to make ''epic'' battles....much more easier to make the small unit movies = like Battleground
...and the epics like Ben Hur, Spartacus, etc will never be made like they were ..it's all computer generated

 

If Dick Best isn't wearing his oxygen mask when he goes into his dive...

 

The focus has been on CGI, rather than a good script for sometime now.

I blame George Lucas & Star Wars Episode I for that.

But, hey, Pixar seems to make it mostly work, but they are the diamond in the rough.

 

I'll be watching it tonight. If it's half as bad as I expect, I'll be the angry guy in the back row giving the entire theatre a running commentary on why it's a bad movie.

 

As much as I prefer real history . . . one Hollywood wag once said something along the lines of "we're making movies, not history."

They make what they can sell to the unwashed masses, not what they can sell to those who have somewhat more than a clue of what really happened and who was who.

I remember Dick Best quite well, and while he was certainly one confident and thoughtful individual, I would never describe him as "swaggering."

Full disclosure: my father was at Midway, XO of Thach's VF-3 off Yorktown.

 

Well , the Seattle Times gave it a glowing review, calling it "respectful". ‘Midway’ review: Respectful tale of pivotal World War II naval battle soars I suppose I could tolerate some mistakes and bad dialog if it is truly "respectful" and not the mindless jingoism of Pearl Harbor or U57whatever.

 

I just saw it and will post a full review tomorrow. Very briefly:

1. On the plus side, the picture does make a more than usually serious effort to make the history accurate. There are still some goofs and possible goofs (I'm not a Midway expert so must check some facts myself).
2. The script, unfortunately, is weak on the dramatic side. There are too many cliches of the kind we all know too well.
3. The actors try hard and some of them come through despite the script.
4. The film is too long and tries to cover too much. The CGI is well done but there are too many battle scenes before we get to the big one so the impact is diluted.
5. For serious WWII students, though, I'd say it's still worth seeing because of 1.

More tomorrow.

 

For what it's worth, it was better than I expected. It's no Pearl Harbor, but it's far from a masterpiece like A Bridge Too Far.

A few thoughts in no particular order:

• The scope of the movie was very large, starting pre-Pearl Harbor and ending days after Midway. This includes on-screen portrayals of Pearl Harbor, Halsey's Marshall/Gilbert Island Raid, and the Doolittle Raid. There is also a brief depiction of the Coral Sea. I felt that Midway itself was compressed into a comparatively small time window, and key aspects of the battle including the destruction of Yorktown are completely omitted and are only referenced in passing. The focus is on Enterprise's air group, with references to Yorktown on occasion but barely a mention of Hornet.
• Some units/actions are indicated with captions and others are not. It seemed inconsistent. For example, Adm Yamaguchi in particular is not introduced at all (either via caption or by some creative scripting) and unless you are aware of the history I doubt anyone watching would have realized him importance. In this regard there were mixed opportunities to provide context on the battle. As a further example -- if I recall correctly, the first time the names of the IJN carriers are said is as they're being attacked and sunk.
• RLeonard would know for sure, but it seems like they took some liberties with their portrayal of Dick Best's personality. Swaggering, self-assured and a showboat would be an appropriate term for it. An opening pre-war scene has him doing a very dramatic and over the top dead-stick landing for "practice" (i.e. "for show") which I somehow doubt would have occurred. I do not mean this statement in a negative manner (perhaps he was as portrayed -- this is just my observation).
• The CGI was as well done as I suppose it could have been and it didn't stray into a CGI shitshow like any of the "Marvel" comic book movies. It was at times distracting but I view it as a necessary evil required to convey the scope of the battle.
• I would agree with the characterization was "respectful". The men on both sides were portrayed respectfully, with only Nagumo being portrayed in a (perhaps deserved) negative light. In fact in an earlier scene on officer asks Yamamoto something along the lines of "when will that old fool be replaced? He will get us all killed".
• The film including a number of vignettes on relatively minor aspects of the battle/war, including George Gay in the water, without providing much context. On the other hand Bruno Gaido is prominently featured.

Overall, I'd watch it again. It has missed opportunities and takes creative liberties, but I feel it is respectful and a better effort than most. It's certainly better than the 1976 Midway.

 

And really, outside places like this, who knows who Bruno Gaido was and what happened to him? I'm just waiting for some fool to decry an unfair portrayal of his, yes, his murderers.

 

Sounds more like a film adaption of "Pacific Payback.", which focuses on the Enterprise dive bombers from before Pearl to Midway.

 

It sounds better than I expected so I will give it a look. If Alan says he might see it again I can certainly reach down and summons enough courage to go once! Thanks, guys for the reviews

Kindly,. Gaines.