Midway: The Reboot Rubbish Continues — The Beacon Goes to the Movies

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon

The reboots just keep on coming. Last night, the Beacon's entertainment staff spent an evening at the movies. We decided to take in Roland Emmerich's new WWII epic blockbuster Midway. It was touted as a reboot of the 1976 film starring Henry Fonda, Charlton Heston, and James Coburn. Calling it a reboot is a stretch. I suppose if we broaden the definition to mean movies that are made based on a subject that has already been covered, sure, this is a reboot.

A more accurate description would be a movie that incorporates way too many parts of one of the most critical and pivotal moments in US history that is mashed together and cut to fit the current American attention span. That said, I don't think that would all fit on the promotional material. 

Roland Emmerich is the master of disaster movies, and that's exactly what this movie is — a disaster. It tries too hard. The original Midway begins with the Doolittle Raid and the bombing of Tokyo. It is the opening sequence when the opening credits are rolling, and the opening scene is a Japanese Naval officer visiting a meditating Admiral Yamamoto to let him know Tokyo has been bombed. The new movie starts out before the war starts and goes through the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Doolittle Raid, the Battle of Coral Sea, and finally the Battle of Midway.

The movie just crams too much into the time it has. There is very little character development. Several people are left out of the story or barely even mentioned. Admiral Fletcher isn't even mentioned in the movie. They spend more time giving Aaron Eckhart screen time as Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle than they do on other more important people who participated in the Battle of Midway.

The battle sequences seem to be more focused on special effects and fantastical explosions rather than being used effectively. The red captions on a dark background make them difficult to read. Sometimes you don't even know what part of the battle the movie has cut to because the captions are dark set against the backdrop of a dark ocean.

Many of the scenes are choppy and poorly edited. There are some scenes where you don't even know what the outcome was. There is so much focus on the other elements of the movie that the main battle seems like an afterthought. There isn't enough of the main battle, and there isn't even any mention of the Japanese attack on the Yorktown. It really seems as if an extra is on the bridge of the Enterprise and he taps on his XO's shoulder and says, "Hey look! The Yorktown is sinking!" 

The acting also leaves a lot to be desired. Woody Harrelson does an excellent job as Admiral Nimitz. He seems to have nailed the silent contemplative demeanor Nimitz was known for, but every other actor seems to be caught in a permanent state of anger — almost as if Emmerich told them all to act with their jaws clinched and to force their lines out of their mouths with emphatic grunts. 

The costume department also did a poor job with the American uniforms. I know this matters a whole lot less to some people than it does to a nerd like me, but I guess there weren't any irons in Hawaii or aboard any ships because all of those khaki uniforms looked like they were two sizes too big and they were crumpled up in a ball before they were flattened out and worn. The Japanese uniforms were well done, but the Americans looked terrible.

If you want to spend your money on watching something having to do with the Battle of Midway, I suggest the original. I understand today's movie audiences are not going for an in-depth character development story.  I get movies have to fit the modern-day attention span moviegoers have. However, the original Midway is far superior than this 2019 "reboot."

The Battle of Midway was absolutely the turning point in the Pacific Theater. The United States was out manned and out gunned. The Japanese had almost four times as many naval vessels in the Pacific, but the United States, with the assistance of US Naval Intelligence codebreakers, were able to accurately identify where, and when, the next major battle would happen. The Americans would lie in wait and completely annihilate the Japanese fleet just off the waters of Midway.

It is interesting that just before the movie was released, shipwreck hunter RV Petrel found the remains of the IJNS Kaga and the IJNS Akagi in the waters of the Pacific. 

If you want a better narrative of what happened in the War in the Pacific, I suggest watching Tora, Tora, Tora and Midway back-to-back. If you want to see a two hour and eighteen minute computer generated explosion where you almost expect to see dinosaurs attacking aircraft carriers, go see the new Midway

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