Midway is a historical epic directed by Roland Emmerich. The plot retells the monumental battle of Midway during WW2 and shows the sacrifice of all involved.
Normally I would stay away from this kind of film because it is usually a toned-down form of propaganda. It normally is very quick to say X country is great and X country is bad and leave out any nuance and grey area. An great example of what I am talking about can be seen when the Japanese commanders are having a meeting and one says something to the extent of what have we done we have awoken a sleeping giant and it is almost cringey in its pro American stance, I highly doubt the Japanese would have said such a thing. Though the film does slip several times into this cringey form of very forced feeling patriotism being projected on a world audience it for the most part the film doesn’t do it.
That said I enjoyed the epic feel of this film very much, I am not going to lie I had given up on Emmerich as a director after his last few efforts, but this gave me pause. I truly believe that this film manages to capture the sight and the scale of such an endeavour and treats the events with the hollowed reverence they deserve; in that vain I enjoyed the final shot of the film and the closing message.
The acting was all very strong, Ed Skein was a very believable leading man, I am genuinely surprised that he hasn’t had more leading roles as he has proven himself to be a very strong actor. However, the standout of the cast to me has to be Alexander Ludwig, though his on screen appearance is very short he gives a very strong emotional performance that will hit you like a sack of bricks.
Pro.
Treating the subject matter with respect
The performances
Especially Skein, Ludwig and Wilson
The grand scale of it all
Cons.
The raar raar cringey patriotism
4/5
Reviewed by Luke
Another Millennial Reviewer 