Roland Emmerich is famous for blowing things up.
He started small enough, just destroying the Whitehouse and several notable monuments
He got a bit more ambitious, destroying:
- New York (Godzilla)
- Colonial America (The Patriot)
- New York…again (The Day After Tomorrow), along with most of the Northern Hemisphere
- The entire SURFACE OF THE EARTH (2012)
Where do you go after you basically bring about the Apocalypse? Do you weep, for there are no more lands left to conquer?
Nah, you attempt a passion project.
So, if you like blowing things up, war seems an appropriate topic. From the invention of gunpowder forward, any convenient war will provide plenty of KA-BOOM.
And thus, we come to Midway. The movie should really be “The first year of World War 2 in the Pacific Theatre,” but that’s not catchy. It could also be called, “I saw Pearl Harbor and thought I could do better,” but we’ll get to that.
If this were a sane movie, what we have here is a dual-protagonist film, following Lieutenant Dick Best (Ed Skrein), fearless pilot of a dive bomber, and Captain Edwin Layton (Patrick Wilson) as they come to terms with how hopelessly outmatched America is under the onslaught of the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1941 and 1942. Layton tried to warn the powers-that-be that Pearl Harbor was coming, but lives with the guilt of being unable to stop it. Best sees friend after friend die at Japanese hands, and has to grow from a devil-may-care individualist to an inspiring leader of men.
Lord, if only that were the movie on the screen.
What we get instead is an overlong mess of “I can’t say no,” comprising an ensemble cast of most of the famous names involved in ANY WAY in 1942 Pacfic action. Just from memory, here are all the people you’re supposed to keep track of in addition to our two actual protagonists:
- Chester Nimitz (an overmatched Woody Harrelson)
- Wade McClusky (a terrific Luke Evans)
- “Bull” Halsey (Dennis Quaid, whose only job is to ‘Look like Hell’ because he has shingles)
- JIMMY FREAKING DOOLITTLE (Aaron Eckhart) Who does not belong in this movie
- Bruno Gaido (Nick Jonas)
- Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
- Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi
- George Gay, the only survivor of Torpedo Squadron 8
- Admiral Nagumo
- Joseph Rochefort, the codebreaker who literally WON THE WAR in the Pacific with his abilities.
- Admiral Raymon Spruance, who sub’d in for the stricken Halsey at Midway
- Approximately 50 more Chinese, Japanese, and American characters and wives.
You see the problem. I am not only a recovering history major, I’m a World War 2 fanatic. I memorized airplane specs at age 8. I can tell you the difference between an F4F Wildcat, F6F Hellcat, and F8F Bearcat, while understanding the inscrutable reasons why it’s an ‘SBD’ not just a ‘Dauntless’.
Despite my background, the movie Emmerich made is utter nonsense. The movie is simultaneously:
- A Pearl Harbor movie, like….Pearl Harbor
- A film about Midway, like the much-better 1975 Charlton Heston Midway.
- A Doolittle Raid movie, like Thirty Seconds over Tokyo.
- An exploration of the Japanese psyche and infighting, including Yamamoto’s mixed-feelings about the war.
- A ‘small guy’ movie about enlisted men trying to survive, like Unbroken.
- Moments of a freaking submarine movie, like Das Boot.
- A Green-screen CGI spectacle, like so many Zach Snyder slogs like 300, 300 + Eva Green, etc.
What’s frustrating: ANY of those movies is a better movie than this. By insisting on telling the entire story arc from Pearl Harbor to after Midway, nothing feels particularly real. Every conversation advances the plot or sounds contrived.
All that being said, there are bright spots. The bare facts and heroism shine through. Bruno Gaido really did fend off a Kamikaze attack himself. Both McClusky and Best were larger-than-life characters, and Midway was a true miracle that shaved years off the war.
Certain performances resonate, particularly the pair playing Yamamoto and Yamaguchi. The dramatization of Yamaguchi’s final moments is simply epic. Pity we didn’t have more time to understand the character, in the style of Eastwood’s excellent Letters from Iwo Jima.
To a degree, I understand Emmerich’s conundrum. There’s no need to magnify the Battle of Midway; the question is what you leave out. His answer: nearly nothing. Along the way, let’s throw in Pearl Harbor, Battle of the Coral Sea, and the Doolittle Raid.
It’s a mess, and nobody could carry it off. Emmerich certainly doesn’t.
Watch the 1975 Midway, and glory in the same story, told better, with better actors.