caseyt-48511
This movie is a mixed bag. It features some wonderful actors and really cool battle sequences. But half of those scenes are stock footage from other films or actual war footage, which is neat if anything.
Some of the actors were hardly in it like James Coburn and Robert Mitchum. But Mitchum's scenes were some of the better ones. He was a brilliant actor who elevated every scene he was in.
Sadly, the biggest problem with the movie wasn't anything to do with the production of the movie, but it's timing. It was released at the height of the New Hollywood Era of the 1970s where films were much more realistic and moved away from more classical elements of filmmaking. If this movie had come out a decade earlier I think it would have been better remembered and much more impressive for the time. But it tried to be a Classic Hollywood movie in the New Hollywood Era.
pcsimonson1651
Midway is a decent movie filled with great actors, and it follows the actual event during WW2 pretty closely. What kept this movie from being a truly great movie was all the dumb goofs, and bad actual footage of the battle. Someone needs to remake this important movie, but make sure the battle scenes are kept accurate by showing the correct airplanes, and ships of that time. Example: The 5 inch guns turrets , and a battleships main turret guns were not used to shoot down airplanes coming in for attack on a ship.
joekwiatkowski
I tend to lose patience with reviews of movies like this and 'Battle of the Bulge' where equipment used or depicted isn't historically authentic. Back in the day, you used what was available or you blew your budget out of the water. After 'Tora! Tora! Tora! didn't do so well at the box office, I'm sure the bean counters became leery of that idea. (A full-scale mock-up of the 'Nagato'?) Still, it might be high time to take this one back into the studio, have the CDI folks massage the offending sequences, replace the F4Us and F6Fs and what-have-yous with the proper types of aircraft and ships for the time and situation, and re-release it, even if it goes directly to cable TV.I'm pretty satisfied with most of the film. They did a good job of staying historically accurate given the time constraints involved. Two key items that were glossed over were the interception of both Japanese strikes against 'Yorktown' by that ship's defending fighters (out of Koboyashi's eighteen dive bombers, ten were shot down by fighters and one by flak before they released. The seven remaining dive bombers scored three hits. Three of the escorting Zeros were also shot down.) and the submarine attack that finished off 'Yorktown'. The effort to save 'Yorktown' after Tomonaga's torpedo bomber attack would have been another movie in itself.The part I was most dis-satisfied with was the sequence dealing with the launch of the 108-plane Japanese initial strike on Midway which started the battle. Poorly executed, in my opinion, compared to the same sequence in 'Tora! Tora! Tora!'.This is one where you want to watch the movie, then read a good book about the battle. I recommend 'Incredible Victory' by Walter Lord.
Spikeopath
A critical part of WWII gets the big epic cinematic treatment, with all star casting and lots of noise. Though purporting to be exactly how things were during this particular battle, a pinch of salt is also needed. Much of the film is taken up with laying foundations for the air-sea engagement of the title, political posturing and military machinations are joined by needless sub-plots. The dialogue is often cheese laden, some characterisations equally so, while the splicing of real life footage and other war movie moments start to detract. However, the last third of film is thrilling and worth waiting for, a whirl of battle action as the Pacific conflict comes vividly to life both visually and aurally. 6.5/10
AD
