I am a big fan of Roland Emmerich so I have been meaning to check out Midway for a while now. Luckily, I had an Amazon gift card burning a hole in my pocket and they had this on 4K for a very good price. I have to say that I have seen a ton of war movies over the years and while this one was good, I do not think it is one of the best.
How to Download Midway
Downloading and Streaming Options
You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. If you want to see what happened three years earlier, check out our review of Pearl Harbor.
The Movie Review
The Key Facts about Midway
| Fact | Information |
|---|---|
| Movie Title | Midway |
| Director | Roland Emmerich |
| US Release Date | November 8, 2019 |
| Cast | Includes Patrick Wilson, Ed Skrein, Woody Harrelson, and Dennis Quad, among others. |
| Downloading and Streaming | Available for download/streaming on digital platforms. |
| War in the Pacific | The movie covers events from Pearl Harbor to The Battle of Midway during World War II. |
| Perspective | Offers a balanced view of both American and Japanese military perspectives. |
| Roland Emmerich’s Spectacle | Known for epic spectacle, Emmerich brings his style to the movie’s battle scenes. |
| Story and Duration | The story is less exciting compared to the battles; movie’s duration feels a bit long. |
War in the Pacific
What we have here is a war movie that is about The War in the Pacific. We go from Pear Harbor to The Battle of Midway along with a few of the big events in between. To be honest, I cannot say for sure how historically accurate the movie is, however, I do know they tried to play this as straight and real as possible.
A Stacked Cast
We have a very stacked cast here in Midway. I am a big fan of Patrick Wilson (check him out in Aquaman or Insidious: The Red Door) and he did a great job as Lt. Comm. Edwin Layton one of the brains who figured out the attack was coming. We also have Ed Skrein who plays a pilot called Lt. Dick Best who was the leader of a dive bomber squadron. I would say that Edwin and Dick are our two main characters, but there are other key people in the movie.
Prominent Admirals
There is also Woody Harrelson who plays, Admiral Chester Nimitz, and Dennis Quad as Vice Admiral Bull Halsey whose performances I really enjoyed. Midway truly does have a great cast and it is one of those movies that does not seem to have many small insignificant parts to it. I remember some of the names of the soldiers from History class in school so that was something I thought was cool.
Balanced Perspective
One thing that I thought was cool about Midway is that it was not just a “USA, USA, USA” kind of war movie. Ok, well there is that here, but we also get to see a great deal of the Japanese Imperial Army and the way that their military culture was so different to ours. I was not expecting this and I found it very interesting and well done.
Emmerich’s Spectacle
When it comes to spectacle, there are few that can match Roland Emmerich. Stuff like Independence Day and 2012 are great showcases of what he can do on the big screen. Midway, has that Roland Emmerich style with these epic battle scenes that look amazing and will rock your speakers. There is a scene where dive bomber Dick is doing his thing trying to save the day and it is absolutely epic!
Balancing Act
Coming in at a little over two hours, I do feel like Midway did start to overstay its welcome a tad. While the actors all did a good job, the story was rather boring. I know that is a terrible thing to say about a real-life war, but the story lacked the excitement of the battles. It was the battles and the special effects that made this movie for me. It was good, but it would not be the first war movie I would watch if I was in the mood for one.
