And the microbudget efforts will only continue to get better as Hollywood keeps getting more cringe.

There's a huge seismic shift going on now with the entire box office/theatrical distribution system due to the advent of streaming services. More and more consumers are simply not bothering to see certain genres of film in the movie theater anymore and instead are just watching them online. With some very rare exceptions like "Dunkirk" the war/military genre is one of those affected by this shift.

Ok, the numbers and consumption development are a debate quite valid. But I have to come back on the trailer...

I'm speechless, the CGI are lacking behind some 12 years. IF you'd like to make people think it was possible and adequate to fly 10ft above the pavements (to have a better aim on kitchens and playgrounds?) it should look convincing at least. And it just doesn#t at all.
Zekes diving into that hell of AA among the ships to empty their peas over that walls of steel is just to much for me. And starting with the lighting on all objects involved, sources of flashes, dubious shadows, a/c physics, exaggerated numbers and formations aloft it feels so wrong.
And to make things worse:
Over-emphasized drama sequences like the Dauntless going down faster and faster are depicting that kind of warfare wrong for most of the audience. Not aware of the complex technologies and efforts built into that plane many people will think the pilots are too daring and deliberately were risking their crate to come apart from pure speed/audacity. The actual tension should be down to one infernal minute of deadly ackack blasting by your heads. That supposed air race factor yet is offending my last remains of military common sense.

I don't know what Emmerich is after at all. Make a living, sure. But is there any story line apart from getting knocked once and hitting back hard in return? Scared girls, extra-dumb politicians and (luckily) some Mr.X on the right track? How much luck was involved that the US could finally show some skills and bravery? We sure would have missed out on some pretty good heros, right?

Is it a blatant show-off in "Bagged them!" or a (rather weak) attempt to give the former veterans one more kudos? Was it just that Emmerich felt insulted by the way Pearl Harbor dealt with the matter? Well, I was too.
Anyway, as a director who kind of built his glory on a pretty good CGI film I don't know how the heck he can coms around with battle scenes like those. Is this truly a genuine contemporary Hollywood/cinema production?

When I first heard about this a long while back and that it's by Roland Emmerich, I knew it's gonna suck just like Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor did.

Also from Midway, there were only 4 B-26 based there that attacked the Japanese carriers fleet using torpedoes.

In the movie, they showed like 20-30 of them all attacking at once from high altitude using bombs.

Then there is another scene showing the Midway's based SBD attacking the Japanese carriers fleet and 5 of them get shot down together and they all followed the leader into the ocean, one after another within seconds of each other.

Has anyone gone to see this movie yet?

I will not see it in the theater but I will at least give it a shot when it's on Netflix or cable.

Hey Bill, there's a website for building aircraft models that I frequent, and not surprisingly they are very interested in this story, the aircraft involved, and even some historical accuracy. Overall, those who have seen it are not completely dumping on it.

Here's a link to that discussion:
http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/310500-saw-midway-tonight/

It MAY sound like a lot of money but the budget for the film was only 100 million. To make a war epic theatrical release today with a well known cast of actors and top of the line CGI, you are looking at a minimum 175+ million dollar budget.

Red Tail sucked. Lucas should be ashamed!

This new Midway is an insult to everyone who fought in the Pacific theater.

I haven't seen it and never will not even if it's free but I hear is historically inaccurate.

Plus Woody Harrelson as Admiral Chester W. Nimitz?

He may be the right age as Nimitz was in 1942 but he just doesn't look believeable as Nimitz.

Henry Fonda as Nimitz in the original Midway.

Now he was Nimitz!

Yup.

Watching something intelligent and accurate about the Battle of Midway instead of that Hollywood trash.

https://www.smithsonianchannel.com/shows/battle-of-midway-the-true-story/0/3475927

Saw it last night and thought it was very good actually - one of the better WWII films of recent years IMO
A few hollywood moments in there but was definitely more towards the Tora Tora Tora historical side of things with them playing actual characters and the CGI seemed pretty good to me.

A good intro for those not familiar with it and a good bit at the end highlighting each main character and what they went onto.

That's why this is called a "documentary" and not a "movie".


Having said that, sensationalist and just simply incorrect statements like these bug me:

" It's June 1942 and the world's fate is about to be decided by a handful of pilots and their untested aircraft."


Um...no. The "world's fate" was indeed decided during the Battle of Britain and then later on again at Stalingrad but the US victory at Midway while important did not determine the outcome of the entire war but instead was the turning point of the war in the Pacific.

I agree that the "world's fate" verbiage is a bit much the same logic you use to debunk it can be applied to the Battle of Britain/ Stalin grad. Those battles determined the fate of Britain / Soviet Union, but not the world. Germany was never capable of conquering the world.

So what would had happen if Japan won at Midway, destroyed all 3 carriers, and then went on and took Hawaii causing the US to lose their Pacific shipyards and naval base?

The U.S. will sooner or later build more carriers and their mighty Pacific fleet.

Wouldn't Japan still ended up losing but just a bit later maybe in 1946 or 1947?

Or will a loss at Midway and the loss of Hawaii cause the US to concentrate on Germany and not put so much effort in the Pacific against Japan until Germany was defeated?

During that time, however number of years it would take to defeat Germany, Japan would be left unfettered to continue its conquest of the Pacific which will probably include Australia and New Zealand?

If that were to happen, after the US has finally defeated Germany, maybe they will leave Japan alone since it had conquered most of the Pacific and its island and countries and negotiate a peace?

Is that also a possible outcome?

It wasn't and that also was not in Hitler's plans anyway. However, an Axis victory in the USSR would have meant the elimination of a major huge front for them and the Axis would have then been able to concentrate their forces in North Africa to fight the UK and the US.

I think this would have been the most likely scenario. A Japanese win at Midway would have only bought them more time since Japan was hopelessly outclassed compared to the US when it came to industrial capacity/production. I believe Japan built less than 10 aircraft carriers during the war while the US built well over 150 between fleet, escort and light carriers.

I guess you're simply right. On the other hand he could have focused on other (cheaper) aspects within his movie before it gets to look cartoonish.

Thx for your posts, Panzer. You've shared some interesting links already in this thread.

But "the fate of the world hangs in the balance" sounds so cool. And dramatic. And it's Hollywood.

Nope. The Russians are right on that count. The flower of the Wehrmacht was snuffed out at Stalingrad. Was all downhill from there.

Watching this.

Let's make crap up, Hollywood.

At the beginning of the movie, during the attack on Pearl Harbor, the USS Enterprise, located 170 miles west from southwest of Hawaii (that is the correct position) launched SBD Dauntless dive bombers to locate the Japanese carrier group.

Once the Japanese fleet was located, the Dauntless were instructed to mark the Japanese carriers with smoke bombs and the torpedo planes from the Enterprise would be dispatched to sink them.

That never happened in real life!

Not only that, the Dauntless were sent 185 degrees when the Japanese fleet, both of them, were north and northeast of Hawaii.

Those Dauntless should had been headed 320 degrees.