Very mediocre. Felt disorganized and forced. Save this one for Netflix folks.
This is a 2 hour VFX sizzle reel. It is not thrilling. It is not exciting. Snooze fest in Green screen land.
It's not a good movie. While being historically accurate, the problem of "Midway" is that it doesn't depict the battle in apprehensible way. So you watch some airplanes fly, so you see the flack, so you look at some not great SGI aircraft carriers and listen to a story of how USA has trapped the japs. Then you see more airplanes fly, and further more airplanes fly, and even more airplanes, but what exactly has been happening is never explained. In fact I watched the movie, understood nothing, then I watched 20 minutes documentary on YouTube that explained everything that happened in the battle of Midway very thoroughly and then I said, "oooh yeah, oh that was really what was going on, ooh these airplanes were the first squadron, and those where the second squadron, etc. and now it makes sense, oh yeah. Now I see the movie is true to the story". But that is exactly the problem. Why would I need to see 3 hour long movie which doesn't tell what exactly happened if I could easily be more entertained and informed if I saw a documentary movie. Really, on youTube they have great videos, depicting the Midway battle, with maps, detailed explanations and animations that are far more interesting than this... thing.
Barely above mediocrity, that's what it is. I had higher hopes for this movie.
Let's start with what I think is the most important thing in a movie like this: the story. As far as I know, they got most of the stuff right and that really pleased me. I'm not a huge history buff, but Midway has long been an interesting battle for me. What puzzled me is the way they decided to tell the story. Did we really need to see the attack on Pearl Harbor? Everybody knows how the Pacific War started, it could have (and should have, in my opinion) been simply mentioned in a couple of lines of dialogue. Same for the Doolittle raid; while interesting in and of itself, it had literally nothing to do with the titular naval battle. I guess the Shangai studio involved needed to show the good chinese versus the evil japanese.
For crying out loud, it takes 75 minutes of runtime before the start of Midway! I'm not saying I wanted to jump straight in, as a bit of introduction is needed, especially for the lesser known aspects like the intelligence gathering. But it was so drawn out. And to make it worse, when it came to the actual battle, they rushed over some things, like Yorktown surviving two attacks and actually baiting the japanese forces.
I don't know what to say about Best's horizontal bombing, that's just a travesty. I understand needing to embellish stuff for a movie, but dive bombing through a cloud of anti-air is already pretty cool, without ruining it with a super cheesy line.
I'm just glad they didn't push too much with some love story or anything like that.
The visuals were ok. Some scenes looked very good, others not so much. There was definitely inconsistency in the CGI quality, I guess the budget was limited. One thing that bugged me was the planes; they looked great, but they didn't feel real. Almost like they were "slow".
As for the cast, I enjoyed Harrelson and Wilson's performances, nothing special but solid acting. The others were very forgettable.
In the end, it's an ok movie, but hard to recommend.
6/10
It's okay i guess. Boring at times, but nice.
A totally serviceable military movie. It's a perfect dad movie to watch on tv. The action is decent but the effects can be a little distracting. It's too long with too many characters and sub plots.
A great movie, historically accurate, well written, directed and acted. Definitely worth the watch.
This movie was a bit of a positive surprise. I was actually prepared to not like it that much but Hollywood actually made a decent war movie without pushing their usual left wing political propaganda and woke SJW bullshit.
It’s really a good movie in pretty much all aspects.
First, I liked that it covers quite a bit more than “just” Midway. It actually starts before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Then it covers the attack on Perl Harbor and also the famous Dolittle raid on Tokay to finally end up with the battle of Midway. All of it is more or less historically accurate. We also get to see a fair amount of the history from the viewpoint of the Japanese. Whether that bit of the story is actually entirely accurate I guess no one will ever know of course.
I also liked that they took the effort to get all Japanese actors (or Japanese looking at least) playing the Japanese side and that they spoke Japanese all the time. That’s the kind of thing that gives the right atmosphere for those parts of the movie.
The acting was overall good on both sides. I quite liked Woody Harrelson as Nimitz. Ed Skrein was probably the actor I felt made the most mediocre performance but that might just be me.
Of course there can be no war movie without things going boom and this movie didn’t disappoint on that. It has plenty of action, lots of flight scenes and lots of thing being blown up and it was overall well made. The effects when large ships got torpedoed, bombed or when their munitions exploded was quite realistic. You could see the ships shuddering and the effect on the water around it.
If I should complain about something it was that the movie is too short. Given the large time period it covers there is so much material that it could easily have been longer. It almost felt a bit rushed. There could have been much more suspense around the battle of Midway itself and the part of how they got Yorktown operational, and hid the fact from the Japanese, in time for the battle was altogether left out for example.
The movie was 2 hours 18 minutes long which is respectable but not that long by today’s standards. All three of the extended Lord of the Rings movies was three and a half hours long and this one could easily have been as long.
Probably one of the worst war films I've seen. Major key parts of the stories are left out, the actors were anything, but believable and much more. Not recommended.
This movie was decent, and the effects were mostly very impressive and convincing. I did not care for Mr. Skrein's performance, however, which I found distracting.
A really good war movie. The aerial shots are crazy. I could never imagine actually flying through all that flak, being chased and shot at from every direction. The Pearl Harbor portion of the movie was even better than most of the actual Pearl Harbor only movies.
wow, man hell of a movie & loved it
Good for the battles, the script not so much, but I have not gone to see it for the script, Roland Emmerich does not disappoint
What an Amazing Movie by Roland Emmerich,wow doesn't he bring to life Real Events and make you feel every blast and Death at the Bombing of Pearl Harbour by the Japanese.. 10/10 Mr Emmerich, amazing performances by very talented Actor's.
:clap::clap::heart::heart::flag_us::flag_us::flag_au::flag_au:
Roland Emmerich succeeded in Midway, where Michael Bay did not in Pearl Harbor. Emmerich stuck to the drama — the gut-wrenching storyline of the failures and successes of what led up to, and defined, Midway, along with the immeasurable bravery of those on both sides. Bay and/or TPTB were too busy trying to re-create the horror and stories of Pearl Harbor into a highly cliche romance. Bravo to Emmerich who did a far better job in honoring the story than the sellout Bay ever did in Pearl Harbor.
Surprisingly balanced viewpoint for Emmerich, but it can't save the film from being very bland and even the many battle scenes didn't do a lot for me. They are usually kind of cool to look at, but so reliant on unconvincing CGI that you can almost never be fooled that what you seen onscreen is real. Especially in the beginning the greenscreen scenes are very bad and distracting. And while even in a film like this unconvincing VFX are not a dealbreaker, they just add to:
And even the battle scenes kind of get old and repetitive over time, so in the end you're not left with much to remember. It's not terrible, but it's not good by any means either.
All this unfortunately means that "meh" is the most favorable rating I can give this one. You're not going to have a great time with your brain turned on, but on the other hand there's not enough there to entertain you with your brain turned off either.
Watch it for the visuals. If you watch it for the script, you’ll wonder why the hell they didn’t put a little bit of that hundred million budget towards a script doctor? (Or atleast pay for the scriptwriter to take a night course at a local community college).
CGI is as sophisticated as an American cuisine. It might be accurate but mediocre SFX makes it cheesy and unwatchable. How you can spend so much money and end up with something that looks worse than cut scenes from a mobile video game is beyond me.
While I enjoyed the movie, I couldn't help but feel that it could have been better. I was expecting the cinematography and realism to be on par with Dunkirk, but unfortunately, it fell short in that regard. While the action scenes were well done, I felt that they lacked the realism that I was hoping for. Despite this, the movie was still an enjoyable experience, and the historical significance of the events depicted onscreen cannot be denied. Overall, while Midway may not be as visually stunning as Dunkirk, it is still a good movie that I would recommend to anyone interested in World War II history or action films.
lots and lots of cheese.
I watched this in the cinema when it first came out in 2019 and it was a blast and quite the experience! Watched it again just recently at home and I do have to say it's not quite the same. If you don't have a great sound system and/or decent display, it's not gonna entertain much.
Fairly good CGI action scenes, spoiled somewhat by the cheerleader type patriotism that plagues modern movies of the genre. Still, it's better than the disaster that is "Pearl Harbour".......just.
Quite brutal at times! But so is war... :o
I prefer fictional war movies as it doesn't feel right to "enjoy" real war movies but it was quite interesting.
The CGI didn't look quite photorealistic but I liked the artistic style (and it seems for the best to not make it look too real/raw).
It was also frustrating to watch at times though. The dud, the super close misses, the many deaths (especially the pilot that got thrown into the see with that anchor!), etc.
Anyway, overall it was quite interesting but didn't feel that realistic/accurate. Still a good movie tough :)
PS: I was especially interested in this movie as I enjoyed playing the PC game "Battlestations: Midway" as a child. IIRC I quite liked that game (but of course only because it's a game and not real - at that time I probably didn't even know that this was a real war).
PPS: Oh, and the planes, ships, and bombs were obviously super cool to watch! I never want to see such action IRL but I find technology amazing and that includes classical mechanical stuff (like ICEs and weapons). I even find it important to continue research in that area but for defense (e.g., Iron Dome) and non-lethal weapons (ideally we didn't need any weapons anymore but unfortunately I don't think we're there yet).
A film faithful to historical events, which led to change the course of the war in just a few months in favor of the Americans, after the attack on Pearl Harbor on June 7, 1941. Midway was inflection point led to he inminent defeat to the japanese.
Very low quality propaganda movie.
One of the best fights scene I’ve ever seen
This movie is full of absolutely ridiculous and over the top scenes. In a scene where there are tracers and explosions all around you, I’m not sure you really need to add some additional flavour. However, this movie attempts just that. What could otherwise have been intense and incredible moments that put you in the shoes of the men of this conflict turn in to typical action movie garbage.
Despite some very familiar faces in this movie the acting feels forced and the dialogue at times very odd. Im not sure how this is possible given the obvious talent.
If you are going to watch this, do it on a night where you aren’t looking to get truly invested in something. Alternatively if you feel like a movie where every scene is an exaggeration of what is probably already somewhat exaggerated for theatrical purposes, then this is the movie for you!
The movie is one long parade of cliches, mostly in the first half. Cliches aren't unexpected for a war movie, but the quantity here certainly is. And the quantity and generally poor quality, result in the viewer not getting invested in any of them.
Similarly, the action scenes also offer plenty of CGI firework, but only rarely there is any emotional highlight or appreciation for clever moments of warfare.
Nice scenes, a lot of action, but not enough genesis and tactical development of battle. For a person unfamiliar with it course, movie can be a bit chaotic.
It's not bad, but not particularly great either. Plenty of obvious CGI cheapens it, the story is fairly good though.
One huge complaint is the Japanese subtitles in English were running 20-30seconds after they spoke and sometimes unnessarily disappeared before you could read them. They were still coming up after the scene had changed back to the Americans.
Most of the actors seemed to be trying to outdo each other by overacting the scenes. Woody Harrelson was particularly terrible.
7/10
Great historical account of the Battle of Midway and a short recollection of the events which led up to it. Phenomenal production value and great acting/cast.
The actions good, and the special effects are fine. However, the leading man isn't a great actor (in my opinion), so that marred my experience. And at the end of the day, its still another war movie where people congratulate each other for killing others. For these reasons, my score will be lowered.
The CGI is crappy like my pants after tex mex food
the battle scenes were great. storyline was a bit hard to follow with all the movement. personally felt that some of the acting was over acted, especially with the lead role. I regret not watching this in the living room in order to take advantage of the surround sound.
Yet another movie on Pearl Harbour filled with cocky boys ugh...
Roland Emmerich even manages to make a better war movie than Michael Bay. Since he at least leaves out the romance and bromance stuff. He just focuses on the soldiers and the battle scenes.
From Roland Emmerich comes the WWII epic Midway. The film follows several American pilots, sailors, and officers from the build up to the war with Japan, to Pearl Harbor, the Doolittle Raid, and culminates in the Battle of Midway. Featuring Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Luke Evans, Aaron Eckhart, Mandy Moore, Dennis Quaid, and Woody Harrelson, the cast is quite impressive; though some seem more like glorified cameos than actual characters. And the plot can be a little hard to follow at times, with all the different characters and battle scenes. However, the aerial combat and ship battles are pretty incredible and remarkably compelling despite some weak CGI. Midway takes on a little too much than it can handle and doesn’t always do it well, but it’s still an engaging war film that’s full of thrills.
Looks nice, added to watchlist
It's a decent war movie with good acting.
However, with a duration of over 2 hours, at some point it becomes too tiring to watch
Emmerich just added SFX to Midway .. alot... And it fits perfectly. Enjoyed the trip.
“Pearl Harbor is the greatest intelligence failure in American history”
- Edwin Layton
Not bad, but I am sticking with the ‘76 original.
:flag_jp::flag_us:
Turned it off after 15 minutes. First of all it looks awful. Now, the trailer already looked bad but I thought this was due to the fact the scenes weren't quite finished. If 100m $ gets you this cheap looking CGI than they better stop making movies at that budget.
The nail in the coffin was right at the Pearl Harbour attack. You don't hit battleships with 7,7mm aircraft guns and they just explode everywhere. And if I remember correctly when the bomb hit the Arizona hundreds of sailors died instantly. Yet here they are right where the bomb hits and they survive. I don't want a documentary but that's so Hollywood it's unbearable. Stopped right there.Not waisting another two hours.
how do i play the movie?
Shout by Saint PaulyBlockedParent2019-11-08T18:12:13Z
Now d̶o̶ redo Pearl Harbor.
I was sure this film was going to bomb, that romantic story lines were going to sink it and rah rah USA speeches were going to send it down in a ball of flames, so imagine my surprise when there was no love story and the homilies were kept to a minimum.
What director Roland Emmerich replaced that with is a solid war film that relies on historical facts and includes more battle scenes than I ever could have hoped for. Sure, the film is mined with clichés and Woody Harrelson's lackluster performance sabotages the film, but overall chalk Midway up as a victory.