Midway

Rating:
Summary: A Fairly Good History Lesson
Review: MIDWAY moves a little faster than TORA,TORA,TORA and is only slightly shorter. It will be entertaining for those who are interested in World War II and the crucial Battle of Midway which is really more of an air battle than a good old-fashioned naval battle. The strong cast is led by Henry Fonda and Charlton Heston and includes James Coburn, Glenn Ford, Hal Holbrook, Robert Mitchum, Toshire Mifune and James Shigeta.

MIDWAY failed to receive any Oscar nominations in 1978 when the Academy Award competition was dominated by ROCKY and NETWORK

Rating:
Summary: Ruined with a love story...
Review: Little did I realize, this movie would be on the cutting edge for a trend in historical movies. There was a stupid love interest story in it, not sure if it was historical or not, but it didn't add anything to the story. This is the reason this movie gets three stars.

As for the meat of the movie, it wasn't bad, but it doesn't compare too well to Tora! Tora! Tora!. It didn't really explain the Japanese point of view very well (although you got some of it). It didn't go into the reasons why Japan decided to attack at Midway although they were kind of inferred at. Nor did it really cover the diversion raids up into the Alutians. I thought Tora! Tora! Tora! did a much better job of covering the history. This one just seemed to want to get a movie about Midway out.

Rating:
Summary: One Star is Too Many For This All-Star Dud
Review: The battle of Midway, considered by most historians to be the turning point of the Pacific War, is one of those subjects that scream "Great movie material!" Almost six months after Pearl Harbor, a small U.S. fleet of 3 aircraft carriers, a handful of cruisers and destroyers, a few submarines, and a motley crew of land based aircraft, faced off against most of the Japanese Combined Fleet. Outnumbered in almost every category, the U.S. Pacific Fleet triumphed at Midway, ending Japan's expansion and forcing her to go into the defensive.

Jack Smight's film, released in 1976 with the gimmicky Sensurround sound system, should have been a good movie, since the story of Midway has so many Hollywood-ready elements: Japan's shocked reaction to the Doolitle Raid, the breaking of the JN-25 code by U.S. Navy crypto-analysts, the Japanese buildup and planning, the desperate attempts to repair the damaged USS Yorktown in time for the battle, and the dramatic showdown that led to the sinking of all four of Japan's big carriers on June 4th, 1942. And while Smight's movie does include all of these elements, Midway (the movie) is still a mediocre film.

Blame this failure on the screenplay and how the film was shot. The screenplay is mostly to blame: it tries to be both documentary (a la The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far)and melodrama (with fictional characters played by Charlton Heston and Edward Albert as a father-and-son duo of Navy officers, each with melodramatic subplots added, I assume, to give them "human interest.") Worse, the screenplay only depicts the sinking of the four Japanese carriers; while it does show the attacks that damage the USS Yorktown, it never shows the submarine attack that sinks her and her escort, USS Hammann.

Another bad move: unlike The Longest Day and The Battle of Britain, which had its Germans speaking German with English subtitles, Midway has its Japanese characters speaking in English! Toshiro Mifune, Kurosawa's favorite actor, plays Admiral Yamamoto stiffly, and his lines are dubbed in English...it's almost laughable...reminds me of watching Godzilla on TV. Even worse, when the Japanese plan is depicted on big naval-style charts, the labels on the pieces are in both English and Japanese.

In order to cut costs, the producers also cribbed scenes from other, better war movies. The film starts with footage "borrowed" from 1944's Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, and Richard Fleischer's Tora! Tora! Tora! was the main source for scenes depicting the Japanese attack on Midway Island. In addition, the filmmakers make extensive use of actual color combat footage. Had this footage been shot at Midway, it would not be a problem. But unfortunately most of the war footage comes from later in the war, and planes not in service in 1942 appear hither and yon throughout the movie.

Midway veterans, on both sides, deserve a better movie.

Rating:
Summary: DISAPPOINTED!!!
Review: I was hoping to see footage from the Coral Sea Battle that was added when Midway plays on cable. Instead I got the version I could have received by buying the regular edition. The only saving grace is that the historical value of this movie is invaluable. It accurately tells the story of the battle with few fictional elements, unlike Pearl Harbor. The documentary in this edition was all right.

I WANT THE CORAL SEA FOOTAGE!

Rating:
Summary: Collector's Edition footage Falls Short
Review: I purchased this movie on DVD a few years ago without the extra footage and features. The making of the movie documentary is interesting and well told by the producer, Mr. Heston and others involved. Where the special features fall short is the footage that was made for the television release. First, it doesn't add to the real story of the battle or leading up to the battle, and the 2nd major flaw is the flutter in the transposition to DVD from film. It is very annoying to watch flutter on a film when it can be easily avoided in the transfer. Even the movie trailer shows flutter. This is not acceptable.

Rating:
Summary: Missed Opportunity -- Coral Sea Footage Still Omitted!
Review: Having read that the "Collectors' Edition" DVD would include footage omitted from the theatrical release, I assumed that Universal Studios had finally awoken, smelled the coffee, and included the 30 minutes or so of footage of the Battle of the Coral Sea that one can see when one watches the television version of this film. No such luck. Instead, the studio compounds the mistake it made when it included the goofy and anachronistic "son's fiance" sub-plot by adding not the Coral Sea footage, but two utterly goofy and superfluous domestic scenes with C. Heston and his wife before he leaves for work. Who does Universal thinks watches this type of movie, anyway? If Universal wants to tap into the latent market for DVDs of this film (and in its full version, sans fiance, this IS a good film), they should do the obvious: 1) include in its entirety all the missing footage of the Battle of the Coral Sea (an important context for what follows), and 2) relegate to the status of out-takes all the scenes involving the son's fiance -- they don't ring true in the context of the film, and most people who like the rest of the movie delete them out of hand. There IS a market for a true "collectors' edition" of this film -- but this isn't it! Bring on the Coral Sea footage, drop the silly "son's fiance" subplot, and give us the DVD that many of us can't wait to buy but can only find at present on TV! Until the studio gets the message, I'd hold off on buying this release and stick to watching the complete film whenever it comes on TV.

Rating:
Summary: Good War Picture
Review: It seems the 1976 film "Midway" has somehow been forgotten by time, but the Charlton Heston/Henry Fonda flick is one of the better war films made after "The Longest Day." The film sets out to tell this decisive battle of the early stage of the Pacific war, (though, like "Pearl Harbor" does with the Doolittle raid tends to be a little too eager to play up the signifance of this particular event making bloody battles of Okinawa, Leyte, etc seem to be insignifcant) using an all-star cast. Though Heston's character is fictitious, the other major players are all real, and so is the story they're telling. The Japanese are portrayed as real human beings, not cartoonish buffoons. It's also interesting to see the supporting players who were unknowns at the time, including Tom Selleck and Erik Estrada.
The only drawback is, as another viewer mentioned, the love story involving Heston's son and a Japanese-American girl. While the "Making of" documentary on the DVD explains why they incorporated that story line, it really seems more out of place than a vital part of the story. The same can be said if you torture yourself with the love story scenes that were written in for the network television version with Susan Sullivan.
That aside, if you enjoy historically accurate war films, this is among the best.

Rating:
Summary: A fine telling of the battle that won the Pacific war
Review: This movie is a well-told and well-acted presentation of the Battle of Midway--which was probably the single most important battle that the US Navy has ever fought. Its greatest strength in my opinion is that it shows the battle almost equally from the American and Japanese sides. The script from the Japanese side is largely based upon the book "Midway" by Fuchida, et al. and this is a very positive thing. "Midway" is a great book.

Both sides are shown with dignity, although the Japanese side takes the bulk of the criticism due to the dithering on the part of the Japanese: do they attack Midway again, or strike at the American fleet that the imperfect scouting reports suggest is out there? This indecisiveness--a departure from the military principles of "concentration of force" and "mission"--went a long way to costing the Japanese a battle that the odds favored them to win. By the way, this criticism of the Japanese commanders at Midway derives from the above-cited book "Midway" which was written by Japanese participants in the battle.

My only criticism of the movie are two. First of all, Admiral Spruance is shortchanged--although Admiral Fletcher had very little to do with our victory at Midway, in this movie you would never know that. Admiral Nimitz is played by Henry Fonda and I suppose that is why, in this telling of the Midway battle, Nimitz completely overshadows Spruance. It was in reality Admiral Spruance who remembered everything that the Japanese forgot: concentration of force (he sent all his planes at long range to get in the first surprise blow) and mission: Spruance never forgot that his mission was to attack the Japanese fleet in order to prevent the invasion of Midway.

My second criticism is that I thought that the whole sub-plot dealing with the Heston character's son, who was in love with a beautiful Nisei girl, was completely unnecessary and was in fact pointless as far as this movie went. I don't know why this portion of the movie didn't end up on the cutting room floor where it belonged.

The above criticisms are not enough to deprive this movie of 5 stars. The best thing about the film is that it is very, very, entertaining--you'll watch this one over and over. It belongs in the DVD collection of everyone who likes good war movies.

Rating:
Summary: a worthy film
Review: Sometimes derided as a 'cut and paste job' (the filmakers used footage from other movies), Midway is a workmanlike account of the unbelievable US victory at Midway, only six months after Pearl Harbor.

Sometimes a little wooden in it's documentary style approach, no one however will leave the movie without a clear understanding of what happened at Midway and how.

Wanting to add drama the producers used a lot of actual battle footage, teasing 16mm up to 35mm with acceptable appearance.

The movie is sometimes criticized for its subplot of a young Naval officer's romance of a young interned Japanese girl, it was felt that was projecting a modern sensibility onto the period. But the producers, who felt the interment was morally wrong, included it as a brief commentary on this other aspect of the war.

This movie is done much like Tora Tora Tora, sticking to the history and resisting the impulse to flash up the story. And like Tora Tora Tora it presents an objective view, with the Japanese depicted as human beings with complicated motivations and courage in the face of battle.

Like Battle of Britain and Tora Tora Tora this is a good addition to the library of any World War II air buff.

Rating:
Summary: A classic war film. Very underated.
Review: People complain about how this film uses some of the same historic footage "Tora Tora Tora" uses. This WWII footage is great and should be used in different war films. Just because it was used in that film dosent mean it can't be used in "Midway". It's not like they took scenes made for "Tora Tora Tora" and put them in this film. Historic footage is used and reused in many films. How many times have we seen scenes with President Kennedy in different films? The same populer footage of him? This film is an epic war masterpiece. The acting is superb. People complain about the Japanese speaking English. You are supposed to imagine them to be speaking Japanese. It's not like a mistake the film makers made that makes the film appear cheaper or something. This film gets very little credit, and is always in the shadow of "Tora Tora Tora". I think, if you collect war films, you should own both. "Midway" is a true classic.