MIDWAY - the movie

[Trev95]

I saw midway this past weekend, all I could think was "My SBD-5 can't square off with a Zero like that..." I thought it was pretty good.   

[bozon]

I saw midway this past weekend, all I could think was "My SBD-5 can't square off with a Zero like that..." I thought it was pretty good.   

Look for the episode “long odds” (if I remember correctly) of the tv series “Dogfights”. It has the story of an SBD vs 3 Zekes.

I am pretty sure that the zekes were 2-weekers number guys.

[DaddyAce]

Watched it yesterday with my wife and one of my sons.  We all enjoyed it and thought it overall very well done and pretty accurate, better that we expected.  Sure, there's always some things they could have done better, or more complete, but we enjoyed it.

[DmonSlyr]

Watched that on Amazon Prime with my boy on Sunday. Still a great movie!

The new Midway movie, however, I'll wait for it to come out on Netflix/Prime/Whateverstreamingservice.

You'd be much better off watching it in theaters. Probably one of the very few movies in the last 5 years that's actually worth seeing on a big screen because of all of the battle sceens and the intensity.

[bozon]

Saw it last weekend.
My review in one sentence: a missed opportunity.

In a few more sentences:
The decision to do the Pearl Harbor scene and the Doolittle raid was total stupidity. Took a lot of screen time and diluted the main story. It seems the spectacles were more important to the makers of this movie than a coherent plot or filling in details. A lot of “why is this happening” I had to fill in with previous knowledge of the events.

The good things: some view into the Japanese angle - I liked that and they should have given us a lot more of it had they not wasted 1/3 of the movie on Pearl Harbor etc. The CGI was good. Action scenes were good and mostly managed avoid being over the top like Hollywood usually do. Actors were mostly good, except the main one playing Best - there is something annoying about him.
And above all - SBDs! Finally this little crate gets some respect for holding the line and doing the hard work inspite of being obsolete from day 1.

Final word: a good spectacle, mediocre movie, could have been a hell of a lot better.

[Saxman]

I disagree about not showing Pearl Harbor. It was important for Layton's arc (since his intelligence was being ignored, and he takes the failure personally) as well as framing the larger context. Also, as the movie focuses primarily on Bombing Six, the squadron did lose several aircraft when they arrived on a ferry flight during the middle of the raid so showing that fits into the squadron's narrative, as well. It also sets up the personal stakes for Dick since his family was in Hawaii.

I'll reiterate the problem I had with what they showed was simply that this should have either had a longer run time than two hours, or should have been a miniseries.

[Shuffler]

I disagree about not showing Pearl Harbor. It was important for Layton's arc (since his intelligence was being ignored, and he takes the failure personally) as well as framing the larger context. Also, as the movie focuses primarily on Bombing Six, the squadron did lose several aircraft when they arrived on a ferry flight during the middle of the raid so showing that fits into the squadron's narrative, as well. It also sets up the personal stakes for Dick since his family was in Hawaii.

I'll reiterate the problem I had with what they showed was simply that this should have either had a longer run time than two hours, or should have been a miniseries.

So it is not about Midway. That is what I am getting from most of the postings.

[Vraciu]

So it is not about Midway. That is what I am getting from most of the postings.

Exactly.   It should have been called LAYTON.

[Mister Fork]

...should have been a miniseries.

I think you nailed it right there Sax. The problem with Midway is that it tries to bite off too large chunk of history in just 2 hours when a 10 or 12-hour miniseries would have done the job a lot better, given all three events the time it needs to tell the story and history the right way, and probably for the same budget.

It's why Chernobyl has a running time of 329 minutes over 5 episodes. Sometimes you need to slow down to go fast with the story.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[CptTrips]

So it is not about Midway. That is what I am getting from most of the postings.

About as much as the '76 version was about some brat and his Japanese girlfriend.  That seemed to take half that movie.


I would have left Pearl and the Doolittle raid references in, but trimmed them way, way down.  Maybe just make them fragmentary flashbacks. 

[Vraciu]

About as much as the '76 version was about some brat and his Japanese girlfriend.  That seemed to take half that movie.


I would have left Pearl and the Doolittle raid references in, but trimmed them way, way down.  Maybe just make them fragmentary flashbacks.

It took a total of ten minutes and gave Heston a great opportunity to chew his kid's bellybutton out.  #Approved

[CptTrips]

It took a total of ten minutes and gave Heston a great opportunity to chew his kid's bellybutton out.  #Approved

Nope.  Way longer than 10 minutes.  Or maybe it just seemed long because it was so annoying.

Pearl Harbor and Doolittle raid had MUCH more relevancy.  It just needed some shortening.

[Vraciu]

Nope.  Way longer than 10 minutes.  Or maybe it just seemed long because it was so annoying.

Pearl Harbor and Doolittle raid had MUCH more relevancy.  It just needed some shortening.

- There was a five minute scene when they met over drinks and the kid asked for help.
- There was the scene where Heston went to speak to the girl.
- There was the scene where Heston went to bat for the girl to his old Annapolis bud.
- There was the scene where Heston chewed the kid's arse out.

I haven't timed it but all that combined is right around 10-15 minutes of a more than two-hour movie.   Let's call it twenty.    That's a small fraction of the total screen time and I think it was more to give Heston a chance to show his acting chops.

[CptTrips]

- There was a five minute scene when they met over drinks and the kid asked for help.
- There was the scene where Heston went to speak to the girl.
- There was the scene where Heston went to bat for the girl to his old Annapolis bud.
- There was the scene where Heston chewed the kid's arse out.

I haven't timed it but all that combined is right around 10-15 minutes of a more than two-hour movie.   Let's call it twenty.    That's a small fraction of the total screen time and I think it was more to give Heston a chance to show his acting chops.

Yeah.  20 minutes sounds more like it.

[Saxman]

So it is not about Midway. That is what I am getting from most of the postings.

The central focus of the film is Bombing Squadron Six from the first day of the War through the battle, with Dick Best as the main character. Layton is the main subplot, but the central story is about Best and Bombing Six.