Nick Jonas stars as ‘Bruno Gaido’ in “Midway”. Photo Credit: Reiner Bajo
‘Midway’ is an okay telling of an extraordinary battle
Directed by: Roland Emmerich
Written by: Wes Tooke
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Ed Skrein, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Luke Evans, Mandy Moore, and Nick Jonas
“Midway” – Midway Atoll sits in isolation in the Pacific Ocean, about 1,400 miles northwest of Honolulu, and the expression “blink, and you’ll miss it” certainly applies to this tiny island.
Ironically, this diminutive locale played host to one of the biggest WWII battles. Six months after the Japanese Empire bludgeoned the American Navy at Pearl Harbor, the U.S. hoped to halt Japan’s momentum at Midway on June 4, 1942.
Director Roland Emmerich proudly stands by his big budget, special effects pictures, but for every “Stargate” (1994) or “Independence Day” (1996), he badly misses twice as often with mindless, overcooked action films like “Godzilla” (1998), “10,000 BC” (2008), “2012” (2009), and “Independence Day: Resurgence” (2015).
Emmerich is Michael Bay-light in a way, except he’s – thankfully - more judicious with his runtimes. Well, most of the time. Refined moviegoers are still kicking themselves for accidentally picking “2112” at their local cineplex and suffering through 2 hours and 38 minutes of utter nonsense.
In 2019, instead of churning out a disaster, monster or alien-invasion movie, Emmerich - armed with a 100 million-dollar budget - turns to the history books with “Midway”.
True to form, Emmerich overwhelms the movie screen with infinitely-busy special effects, and this begins straightaway with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. As countless planes dive, dart and ram through the unsuspecting aircraft carriers, their gunfire and bombs trigger massive explosions and mountains of black smoke, as twisted metal remnants of these proud ships sink into shallow waters.
The level of destruction may trigger anger or sorrow, but quite frankly, the visuals seem a little cartoonish, so apathy might be your co-pilot.
For instance, when a Japanese plane finds and flies into an empty space between two American ships - like the Millennium Falcon squeezing into tight quarters inside a Death Star in “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” (1983) - the impact has all the gravitas of a video game. This could have been a “game over” for the rest of the film, but Emmerich, costume designer Mario Davignon and cinematographer Robby Baumgartner collaborate to offer an appealing look of the period by paying meticulous attention to attire and grayish, yellowish camera filters that create a time warp back to the early 1940s.
The big battles may not look authentic, but everyday moments of exposition and banter between the characters (mostly) feel genuine. Although Emmerich overwhelms the screen with action at times, he introduces a manageable number of characters – who are also real-life military men - for the audience to follow.
Lt. Dick Best (Ed Skrein) and Lt. Commander Wade McClusky (Luke Evans) reign the skies as two lead fighter pilots.
Adm. Chester Nimitz (Woody Harrelson) and Vice Adm. Bull Halsey (Dennis Quaid) move chess pieces on ground.
A few younger “kids” fill in some spaces, like Nick Jonas who delivers a surprising macho turn. His character Bruno Gaido doesn’t fear death because, “You never know what’s going to get you, so why worry about it?”
The script offers healthy servings of action and exposition, and for the latter, Patrick Wilson’s turn as codebreaker Edwin Layton is the most intriguing character, as he and his team frequently decipher Japanese communications. These are important history lessons, and the movie shows admiration for the men who fought and lost their lives. The audience also learns Japan’s perspectives as well. This doesn’t mean that “Midway” is a great movie, because it’s not. It’s cliché and carries one too many win-one-for-The Gipper moments.
On the other hand, it – thankfully - does not embrace countless scenes of romance, as a few critics mentioned after the Tempe, Ariz. “Midway” screening. Romance might have been tricky anyway, since Dick Best’s wife Ann (Mandy Moore) and Edwin Layton’s wife Dange (Rachael Perrell Fosket) look like clones, and it will take about eight seconds per appearance to decipher if Ann or Dange is gracing the screen.
No, Emmerich’s picture is not “Pearl Harbor” (2001), but it’s not “Flags of Our Fathers” (2006) either. Maybe somewhere in the middle. You know, somewhere…
(2.5/4 stars)
Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008, graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and is a certified Rotten Tomatoes critic. Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.
