Review: Midway

Battleship: 1942

“I know this is awkward to bring up, but did you know we’re all wearing the same jacket? …”

Director: Roland Emmerich

Writer: Wes Tooke

Cast: Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Luke Evans, Mandy Moore, Dennis Quaid, Nick Jonas, Aaron Eckhart

Synopsis

1942. After US Military Intelligence fails to predict the attack on Pearl Harbour, now drawn into WW2, the USA is on the back foot. Learning from previous mistakes, Edwin Layton (Patrick Wilson), and his code-breaking team come to believe that the next big battle will be at Midway Island, in the middle of the Pacific. However, winning that battle against a superior strength Japanese navy will require the element of surprise, and some shrewd military strategy …

Main review

The evolution for war films over the last thirty years has seen the genre take on a heightened sense of realism, particular in terms of the depictions of violence, and the psychological effect on those affected. Arguably this has been the case in most American war film narratives post-Vietnam, and when a film like Midway chooses to make warfare more of a ‘popcorn’ experience again, it’s frankly a bit jarring, particularly given that Midway is based on real events.

While the likes of Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan have previously chosen to give their WWII stories a grounded, soldier eyed view, in Midway, Emmerich takes an approach closer to Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbour. While Midway is arguably a much better film, the comparisons are apt, because Emmerich and Bay’s approach to battle action are similar, as is the surprisingly bright colour palette and gung-ho attitude.

The script is riddled with cliches and the CGI can look cheap in places, but to Emmerich’s credit, as a veteran of blockbuster film-making, he does know how to keep the battle scenes remarkably tense. The ensemble cast works rather well, and when the film introduces some levity to quite a serious subject matter, it does actually work. One running joke about malfunctioning torpedoes is much funnier than it has any right to be.

As a war film, frankly, Midway doesn’t have that much substance. It’s a film built to entertain, rather than provide a message, and it’s a film that feels like it’s from another era of war films. That being said, Emmerich has built a solid, wartime ‘popcorn’ thriller, about a moment in WWII that is lesser known than Pearl Harbour, but arguably more important, long term. However, whomever was Ed Skein’s voice coach needed to be fired, because that New York accent was diabolical …

Pros

• The battle scenes are genuinely tense.
• The ensemble cast is incredibly endearing, particularly the group serving on the USS Enterprise (no, not that one).
• Emmerich has a knack for spectacle, and some of the ‘dive bomber’ sequences are expertly shot and edited.
• The running gag about US torpedoes not working in combat.

Cons

• The script is riddled with cliches.
• The CGI really feels cheap at times.
• The film feels like it was made in a different era of war film-making.

In a nutshell …

Emmerich is a competent blockbuster filmmaker, and to the credit of Midway, it is competent; the battle scenes are tense, the characters are likable and the film is decent, from a technical perspective. However, as a war film, in 2019, Midway feels like a step backwards; as if the genre hadn’t evolved through the likes of Saving Private Ryan, Der Untergang, or Dunkirk. As such, Midway doesn’t stand out from the crowd as much as it should.