Midway (2019)

Score: 4 / 5

I'm a sucker for war movies, and even more a sucker for Roland Emmerich. And Midway is not a disappointment.

A two-and-a-half hour war thriller that basically spans the Pacific naval activities during WWII, the film considers its central battle -- The Battle of Midway, obviously -- in terms of its context. It does so at great risk; we've been programmed into iconic, intense, and isolated microcosms of these wars in cinema, and so working hard (and in such a long film) to contextualize the climactic conflict is dramatically dangerous. With the helpful use of onscreen text with dates and locations, we get carried along from the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor to the Tokyo Raid the next year and finally to the titular three-day conflict of air and sea.

Because it's Emmerich, there's a lot you can accurately predict about this movie. Let's dive into a few. One: It primarily concerns men, and all but wastes Mandy Moore. Two: Nobody is really given enough drama to shine in their roles. The men seem like they're doing their best to carry on the tradition of stoic, heroic war movies: strong chins, strange hair on their heads and face, they seem intent only on serving their country and giving their best tough man impressions to the camera. Three: The plot flies along so quickly that I'm sure I heard groans from history buffs in the audience. But it's never less than entertaining, and certainly could never be accused of being boring.

Four, and perhaps most objectionable to some: It's drowning in special effects. As one of the most expensive independent movies ever made, Midway already demanded a sizable budget. Add to it the aerial dogfights, a submarine with torpedoes, and fleets of ships on open water in open war and what else could he have done? Emmerich doesn't necessarily go for broke with the calculated immersion of Nolan's Dunkirk, but he clearly learned a few great ideas from the master filmmaker. This movie is cast mostly in stark, bluish daylight and features an incredible soundscape that makes you feel the urgency of what's onscreen. While the screenplay and performances largely feel like they're more in-tune with WWII movies than WWII itself, the visuals and editing are full-on Emmerich at his dizzying, spectacular best. Then the planes dive hundreds of yards in a flurry of exploding fireworks, you can hardly help but hold your breath and grip your armrests.

Finally, and most importantly, it's just a lot of fun; at least, if you consider eye-popping battle sequences at sea entertaining. Emmerich may get criticized for his blockbuster, CGI aesthetic, but damned if he doesn't know exactly what he's doing. It's all a bunch of gorgeous billowing smoke, fire blazing, and water splashing. We might have hoped for a bit more real-life drama (not like the artificial romance of Pearl Harbor) since, after all, the characters here are apparently based on real-life soldiers, unlike in the 1976 film of the same name. The few moments of real intrigue are largely skated over, including James Doolittle (Aaron Eckhart) landing in China after bombing Tokyo. But this is no historical treatise, and Emmerich knows we're here for the action. For a rousing war movie that depicts both sides of the conflict but accurately champions the heroes -- Emmerich is many things, but always a sentimentalist -- you couldn't do much better than Midway.