Midway movie review

MOVIE TITLE:       Midway

RATING:     PG-13

LENGTH: 2 hours, 18 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE:  B+

IN A NUTSHELL:

Directed by Roland Emmerich and timed perfectly for Veterans Day in America, this military drama presents an energetic retelling of a series of battles that culminated in the turning point battle at Midway during World War II.    While most of the historical facts are accurate, it paints a very respectful picture of honor, courage, sacrifice and grit.  It’s sort of a remake of the 1976 Midway with legendary Henry Fonda and Charlton Heston. This is actually Emmerich’s first war movie since he directed The Patriot, one of my all-time favorite movies.

Don’t be confused that this movie is about the Midway, the longest-serving US aircraft carrier of the Twentieth Century.  The movie has lots of aircraft carriers, but the one that is currently stationed in San Diego, California as a museum ship was actually launched right after World War II and named for the battle that’s represented in the movie.  The Midway naval ship is the most popular warcraft museum in the United States today.  My family and I visited it several years ago and I highly recommend it!

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

• Some racial slurs about the Japanese that the 1940’s soldiers would have actually used.
• Profanity
• A lot of Japanese is spoke with subtitles
• A lot of people die or get wounded (bloodless), although you see a charred body.
• LOTS of destruction
• Young children will be both bored and frightened.

THEMES:

• Bravery and courage
• Intuition vs. facts
• Heroes and underdogs
• International relations
• War strategy
• Brotherhood
• Hope
• Determination

THINGS I LIKED:

• The talented cast includes Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Mandy Moore, Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Luke Evans, Aaron Eckhart, Nick Jonas, and Etsushi Toyokawa.  The casting was really great in some instances.  For example, with white hair on his head, Woody Harrelson actually looked quite a bit like Chester W. Nimitz, and Ed Skrein looked fairly similar to Dick Best.
• The movie starts out with a bang (literally) with scenes from Pearl Harbor.  Unfortunately, we haven’t had enough time to care about any of the characters yet so the devastation isn’t as emotionally charged as it could have been.
• Did you know?  They actually found the wreckage of the Akagi and the Kaga one month before this movie premiered.  Cool.
• Some good and bad CGI.
• You get to see both sides of the story: American and Japanese.  Both sides are shown respectfully.  The Japanese military leaders are not represented as evil but simply as doing their job to fight for their country.
• Some really great heroic moments that will touch your heart.
• There are so many moments that show the near misses and make the audience groan, “Noooo!”
• It’s really nice to have a good war movie that isn’t rated R with tons of violence and gore; however, my favorite military movie is Saving Private Ryan   I made my oldest son watch it before he signed up to do ROTC in college just so he would have a more realistic understanding of what he was getting himself into.  ha ha   He is actually now an officer in the Army and absolutely loves it.  I’m so proud of him for wanting to serve his fellowman so valiantly.  His favorite scripture is John 15:13: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a many lay down his life for his friends.”  Both of his grandfathers served in the Navy many years ago.  I am truly grateful for our military men and women who make so many sacrifices to do their jobs.  They deserve all of the services and benefits from the government they need for being willing to put their lives in danger in the name of freedom.  I’m also grateful for their families who also make many sacrifices so they can serve.
• I loved the ending when they showed you pictures of the real people and what happened in their lives after the events in the movie.
• A little bit of humor to balance out the drama.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

• Because the movie is rated PG-13, it doesn’t feel as realistic as it could.
• Not very many characters are fleshed out, so the tension decreases and you don’t feel a sense of worry when people are in danger.
• Sometimes you can tell there were green screens all around the actors because they’re simply not reacting to things that happen on the screen.
• Some of the accents were not very good (* cough…Ed Skrein * cough*).
• It’s a bit corny with lots of war movie cliches and dialogue.
• What’s missing is the lack of US fighter planes.  Why is that?
• There were some technical problems that caused the mouth/audio sync to be off a few times.
• There’s a submarine scene that is intense and integral for the moment but then it and its characters completely disappeared from the film.  Aaron Eckhart’s story line appears out of nowhere and then quickly disappears again.
• Sometimes it’s hard to remember everyone’s name and who is who when they’re talking about people.

FUNNY LINES:

• “I don’t envy the commander….It’s me, isn’t it?” –  Chester W. Nimitz    (Woody Harrelson)
• “We’re gonna give ’em a shellacking.” –   Clarence Dickinson     (Luke Kleintank)

 INTERESTING LINES:

• “You never know when it’s gonna get you, so why worry about it?” – Bruno Gaido    (Nick Jonas)
• “I guess every battle needs a miracle.”  –   Clarence Dickinson   (Luke Kleintank)
• “The sea remembers its own.” –  written on the screen at the end of the movie

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@TrinaBoice