Midway - Batalha em Alto-Mar

This film is a straightforward retelling of the events in the first months of the War in the Pacific beginning with Pearl Harbor and culminating in the Battle of Midway (June 1942). In between, it also touched on Doolittle's Raid on Tokyo (April 1942) and the Battle of Coral Sea (May 1942). The story was told mainly from the point of view of two American soldiers, namely pilot Lt. Dick Best (Ed Skrein) who led his dive bomber squadron at Midway, and intelligence officer Lt. Comm. Edwin Layton (Patrick Wilson) who with his code-breaker team predicted the Midway attack.

Along the way, we meet other famous American soldiers: Admiral Chester Nimitz (Woody Harrelson) Commander in Chief of the US Pacific Fleet; Vice Admiral William "Bull" Halsey (Dennis Quaid) who led the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise; Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance (Jake Weber) who took over the Enterprise for the Battle of Midway; Best's fellow aviators Lt. Comm. Wade McClusky (Luke Evans), Lt. Comm. Eugene Lindsey (Darren Criss) and Lt. Comm. Jimmy Doolittle (Aaron Eckhart); cryptographer Commander Joseph Rochefort (Brennan Brown) and Aviation Machinist Mate Bruno Gaido (Nick Jonas).

The side of the Japanese Imperial Army and their unique military culture were also given fair screen time in this film. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (Etsushi Toyokawa) of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Commander in Chief of their combined fleet, was portrayed with calm and quiet dignity. We also get to meet other Japanese officers and their own brands of leadership Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi (Tadanobu Asano) who commanded the Hiryu with nobility, and Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo (Jun Kunimura) whose controversial battle decisions had negative impact against the Japanese campaign.

The execution of the critical battle scenes are the main draws to watch this film. Director Roland Emmerich will always be remembered as the man who brought us "Independence Day" (1996) and "2012" (2009). Of course, there are big explosions and massive destruction here as well. The massive scenes showing fiery exploding seacraft and aircraft were rendered with crisp cinematography and meticulous visual effects to create impressive screen spectacles. The aviation scenes, particularly the dive bomber runs by Dick Best, were excellently staged, shot and edited to elicit an exhilarating rush.

For its 2 hours 18 minute run, the story of the crucial naval battles and the heroism of its real-life protagonists were front and center here in "Midway." There were no fictional characters or cheesy love stories like in the first "Midway" film or "Pearl Harbor." While seeing some popular young actors like Criss or Jonas can be distracting, the all-star cast generally rendered honor and respect to the heroes they portrayed. Focusing on soldiers of lesser rank allowed for some intimate personal drama in actual battle situations, perhaps with not much depth as possible. As this movie is rated PG, so do not expect to see graphic injuries at the level of "Saving Private Ryan."

I'm just coming from the cinema, Midway is a worth to see movie, but the filmmakers used a bit too much CGI, sometimes you feel like watching a Medal of Honor game trailer.

Midway feels like a made-for-TV movie. It's full of cliched dialogue, acting, and plot points. When most of your movie hinges on the lead actor's performance, and that performance turns out to be melodramatic and cheesy, you've got a problem. Also, the visual effects were inconsistent, swinging from impressive to corny. This isn't a bad movie, but it's going to be easy for me to forget about it.

As someone very knowledgeable about the subject, I was somewhat disappointed. Whether it was the wrinkled uniforms, the painful dialogue, the over-the-top dramatics and exaggerated explosions (hey, it's Emmerich!)... it was clear the film was not made for people like me who know the details and the characters very well.

The rating depends greatly on the target audience. It's clear this film was made for a younger audience, and as such, it does a very good job of conveying the history quite accurately. It's a lot to take on with a 2:20 movie (complete with a 6-month summary of events leading up to the title battle) and it does a fine job of that.

Correct history of this great nation tragically just isn't taught anymore, so I heartily applaud any effort to do so. I just wonder if younger audiences have any desire to learn it. So if I'm rating from that perspective, it jumps up a few points.

I just wish a little more care with the details and script had been taken to leave the older audience satisfied from our knowledge level.

Especially when it comes to Ed Skrein's lines, the writing of this script was so bad. Attempts at drama come off as embarrassing. Also for some reason I just don't like Ed Skrein in this role. This movie could have been good, but it just had me shaking my head the whole time.