Hollywood has made many films with fictional heroes; Robin Hood, Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones to name a few. Midway is a story about real life American heroes. These are the sailors and airmen, who participated in the battle of Midway. It is good to see something that wasn’t created in a screenwriter’s mind, but rather a real life event. This real life event, turned the tide of war, in the Pacific.
Midway begins four years before Pearl Harbor. There is a conversation between Edwin Layton, (Patrick Wilson), and Isoroko Yamamoto, (Etsushi Toyokawa). Both men pick each other’s brains, and an insight is given into the different thinking, of the Japanese and American governments. Patrick Wilson gives a very subtle but solid performance, as Edwin Layton, the intelligence officer.
The film advances four years, to the tragic events of Pearl Harbor. It gives a very vivid depiction of what happened on December 7, 1941. American sailors are taking care of their tasks, on The Arizona, when out of the sky come Japanese zeros. They begin reigning death on sailors and civilians alike. The sailors, although taken by surprise, by this attack, fight valiantly. One great scene of courage is shown by Roy Pearce, (Alexander Ludwig). He is an officer, who gets a seaman to safety, and mans a machine gun, without hesitation, to defend the ship. Pearce does this while fires are burning all around him. His great courage saves lives and sadly costs him his life. All of the carnage is vividly recreated. The full devastation of the Arizona is shown. It is a very sad thing to watch as The U.S.S. Arizona lists and then sinks. The most tragic part is several hundred sailors were entombed in it. Although a recreation, it is hard to watch.
After Pearl Harbor, assessments are made. The decision is made to place Chester W. Nimitz, (Woody Harrelson), in charge of the Pacific fleet. This is one of Woody Harrelson’s best performances in recent years. Edwin Layton is still an intelligence officer, and requests a reassignment. He feels guilt because of intelligence failures. Nimitz tells him he needs him, to help with future intelligence. Bull Halsey is made commander of operations. Dennis Quaid gives a gritty performance, bringing the admiral to life. Halsey does the planning for the battle, but is sidelined with an attack of shingles. He is replaced by Raymond Spruance, (Jake Weber).
In between the planning and the battle, is the raid on Tokyo. This is led by larger than life, General, Jimmy Doolittle. His planes take off on an aircraft carrier, and do some damage to Tokyo. Doolittle’s raiders are forced to land inside occupied China. Doolittle lands near a small village. He tells one skeptical villager, that he bombed Tokyo. He shakes Doolittle’s hand, and gets him to safety. This is a very good scene in the film. Aaron Ekhart gives a solid portrayal as congressional Medal of Honor winner Doolittle.
The stage is now set. Edwin Layton and his staff have been translating messages from the Japanese. This enables the navy to get the jump on the Japanese. This sets the stage for flight officer Dick Best, (Ed Skreen). Best is a reckless pilot, but is great at what he does. He’s been itching for combat since Pearl Harbor. The brass is impressed, and he gets a group of pilots. He shows unbridled heroism, flying low under enemy fire, giving his tail gunner a few scares to say the least. The effects in Midway are good, and gives it a realistic feel. Lt.Best manages to get to his target, a Japanese carrier. He drops a torpedo, and disables it. Best makes it back to his ship, with his now seasoned tail gunner. Unfortunately Best has suffered a career ending injury, and he tells his wife, Ann, (Mandy Moore), he’ll never fly again. His spouse who was the driving force behind his career, says they’ll find something else, he’s good at.
This film has heroes who are pilots. The unsung hero of this film is Edwin Layton. He has worried throughout the movie, that his intelligence will fail. It doesn’t of course. In the final moments of the film, he is told by Dick Best, that his guys did a good job. It is a vindication for Layton in the film, and a very touching moment.
One moment in the movie is when the American carrier, with Bull Halsey, is attacked by a Japanese plane. Everyone is frozen, and are praying that they will get out of this alive. A machinist, Bruno Gaido, (Nick Jonas), jumps into the cockpit of a plane, and fires at the plane, and shoots it down. After this, Bull Halsey tells Gaido, that his action, was the bravest thing he‘s ever seen. Halsey promotes Gaido from machinist 3rd class to first class.
This film has many heroic moments. Among them is the legendary filmmaker, John Ford, (Geoffrey Blake), filming The Battle of Midway. He is told to take cover, but he sees a great shot of the battle, and continues filming, even after being wounded. Ford was a four time academy award winner. He said that the thing he was proudest of, was his time as an officer in the navy.
Roland Emerich has done well in retelling the battle of Midway. The dogfights are well done, and it is reminiscent of Star Wars. The chief difference is that the space combat was fictitious and no one died. There were many brave American pilots lost at Midway. He also put the Japanese perspective on the war in the film. Yamamoto, who was in charge of the Japanese fleet, is shown as a man pushed into a corner, by his government. On December 8, he is shown listening to Franklin Roosevelt’s request for a declaration of war on Japan. He knows he can’t win a war against America, and says, “we’ve awakened a sleeping giant.” This worked in the film. The only bad part of this movie, is that it is dedicated to the American and Japanese sailors. It was fine to dedicate it to American sailors. The bad part is to dedicate a film, to Japanese sailors. It is probably likely that those same Japanese sailors, were most likely on the aircraft carriers, that ferried Japanese zeroes to Hawaii.
This movie should be seen by every American, to get an understanding of the bravery and sacrifice of American sailors. It is through their bravery and sacrifice that America became a beacon of freedom.