Review: Midway

Midway, directed by Roland Emmerich, tells the tale of the U.S. entry into WWII. After a devastating surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, the U.S. enters the war against Japan for control over the Pacific. But when U.S. intelligence discover a plot by the Japanese to attack Midway, everyone prepares to duke it out in a decisive battle that will ultimately determine the outcome of the war.

This has been something of a passion project for director Roland Emmerich, who also directed Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012. Emmerich struggled to get this film made with many studios turning it down due to its sizable budget. He eventually got it green-lit after making some budget cuts (and also with the help of Chinese investors) and churned out this CG mess of a film. Midway is a prime example of a film that’s all show and no substance; it focuses so much on spectacle that it doesn’t develop why we should care for any of it.

The actual Battle of Midway itself was a very fascinating story in of itself, yet Emmerich manages to find a way to make it so boring to watch. Everything in this movie felt fake; there was too much of a reliance on the CGI delivering the spectacle. Movies like Saving Private Ryan, Dunkirk, and even Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor were all memorable because they used plenty of practical effects and creativity to sell the idea that everything happening on screen is happening for real; here literally EVERYTHING is CGI.

With the film’s action sequences feeling artificial, there wasn’t enough substance to distract from the film’s incredibly shallow characters. Hardly any of these characters were memorable in any sense, which is really bad seeing as how a good chunk of these characters, if not all of them, are based off real individuals. The performances all fulfilled the bare minimum; there weren’t any terrible performances (Woody Harrelson was probably the closest to a bad performance to the bunch), but at the same time there weren’t and notable stand outs. And that describes the rest of the movie as well: not terrible, but not good either.

Overall this is just another war movie. It’s not a terrible movie but there are dozens of better ones out there and I won’t remember this film long after I see it. Check it out if you want as it’s pretty harmless overall, but if you want a gripping war story with memorable characters then you’ll be left feeling pretty empty after seeing this one.

Final Verdict: 4/10