Midway (2019 film)

In December 1937 in Tokyo, US Naval attaché intelligence officer Lieutenant Commander Edwin T. Layton is warned by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto that if the Japanese oil supply is threatened by the US, the Japanese will take immediate action. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese use their carrier fleet to strike at Pearl Harbor. The attack seriously damages the US Pacific Fleet, but leaves the base still operational for forward fleet actions because the aircraft carriers were at sea. Naval aviator Lieutenant Dick Best and the Air Group (CAG) of the carrier Enterprise fail to find the Japanese carrier fleet, exacerbating his rivalry with his commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Eugene E. Lindsey.

Admiral Yamamoto and Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi recommend an immediate naval offensive to capture the Midway Islands, but are overruled by the Army. Enterprise is sent to participate in the Marshalls-Gilberts raids in February 1942. During an attack by Mitsubishi G4M Betty bombers, one crippled Betty turns back towards the ship in a suicide ramming attempt but Aviation Machinist's Mate Third Class Bruno Gaido shoots the aircraft down from a parked Dauntless. The crashing bomber slices Gaido's Dauntless in half but he survives. Vice Admiral William "Bull" Halsey, impressed by Gaido's courage, promotes him to Aviation Machinist's Mate First Class. In April 1942, following Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle's air raid on Tokyo, Yamamoto, Yamaguchi and Chuichi Nagumo are finally allowed to begin their plan using the four available carriers of the Kido Butai. They plan with the assumption that the Americans will not predict the attack.

In May 1942, following the Battle of the Coral Sea, the U.S. government become convinced that Japan is preparing for another major offensive in the South Pacific, at a location codenamed AF. Layton, along with Joseph Rochefort and his cryptology team, disagree after circumstantial evidence that the target is Midway is intercepted. With the support of CINCPAC Chester W. Nimitz, Layton proves his point by ordering Midway to telegraph an unencrypted message about water shortage, which is reflected in Japanese communications. In preparation for an ambush of the Japanese fleet, Nimitz orders carriers Hornet and Enterprise recalled from the Coral Sea and demands that the damaged Yorktown be made ready for combat operations. During the preparations, Best is briefly demoralized after one of his proteges crashes during a takeoff, but is receives encouragement by Wade McCluskey. Best and Lindsey set aside their differences and work together to prepare for the attack. Halsey is put on shore leave by Nimitz after receiving a bad case of the shingles and is temporarily replaced by Raymond A. Spruance.

On June 4, the Japanese launch an air attack on Midway. Initial attempts by US land-based aircraft to strike at the Japanese fleet carriers fail. A crashing Martin B-26 Marauder bomber narrowly misses striking carrier Akagi's bridge. A shaken Captain Minoru Genda asks if the aircraft was attempting a suicide ramming, although a uncertain Nagumo nervously suggests that the plane was out of control. The Japanese fleet learn of the presence of the American carriers. The submarine U.S.S. Nautilus attacks one of the Japanese carriers unsuccessfully, and avoids attacks from the destroyer Arashi. Best suffers from respiratory issues including coughing up blood, but leads his and McCluskey's squadrons into battle. They spot the Arashi and follow it to the carrier fleet. Lindsey and other Americans attack the Japanese fleet but are shot down. Realising that the attacks are preventing the fleet from launching their counterstrike, Yamaguchi orders Nagumo to launch his strike as soon as he can. Best and McCluskey destroy three of the Japanese carriers - Akagi, Kaga and Soryu. Nagumo, demoralized and in a state of shock, is persuaded by Genda to transfer his flag aboard a cruiser, while Yamaguchi, who is more willing to fight, launches strikes against the Americans. Frank Woodrow O'Flaherty and Gaido are shot down, picked up by the Japanese and Gaido is executed. After the Yorktown is crippled, Best's squadron destroy the last remaining carrier, the Hiryu. Yamaguchi and Captain Tomeo Kaku go down with the ship.

In Pearl Harbor, Rochefort intercepts the Japanese order to withdraw and passes it to Layton, who then informs Nimitz and his elated staff. Best, who is unable to fly combat missions again due to his lung problems, reunites with his family.

On May 23, 2017, it was reported that Roland Emmerich would be directing the World War II film Midway.[4] Due to its potential lofty budget (with estimates putting its needed cost at $125 million), Emmerich had trouble getting the film greenlit. When no major studio would bankroll the project, he cut down on potential battle sequences and turned to individuals for the funds, resulting in $76 million; he then got an additional $24 million in equity, mostly from Chinese investors, resulting in the film's $100 million budget. It is one of the most costly independent films ever made.[1] Emmerich has previously attempted to mount the film at Sony Pictures in the '90s, with William Goldman becoming interested in the project. However, as with the final rendition, executives balked at the proposed $100 million budget ($152 million by 2019 inflation), and Emmerich moved on to direct The Patriot.[5]

Harald Kloser also produced the film.[6]

In April 2018, Woody Harrelson and Mandy Moore joined the ensemble cast for the film.[7] In July 2018, Luke Evans was cast in the film to play Lieutenant Commander Wade McClusky, who was awarded the Navy Cross for his role in the Battle of Midway.[8] Robby Baumgartner was hired as cinematographer.[9] August saw the additions of Patrick Wilson,[10] Ed Skrein,[11] Aaron Eckhart, Nick Jonas, Tadanobu Asano, Dennis Quaid, and others to the cast.[12] Darren Criss, Alexander Ludwig, and Brandon Sklenar were cast in September.[13][14][15] Filming began on September 5, 2018, in Honolulu, Hawaii. It was also shot in Montreal, Quebec.[9]

In November 2018, it was announced that VFX company Scanline VFX will be the main VFX vendor, and that Pixomondo had signed on to provide additional visual effects.

A photo from a press junket for the film

The film was released on November 8, 2019, Veteran’s Day weekend.[16]

The SBD Dauntless aircraft shown prior to and during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the B-25s in the Doolittle Raid, are wearing incorrect US national insignia lacking the red center circle to the star. This is presumably done to avoid cinema audiences confusing them for Japanese aircraft, the same reason why the insignia itself was modified from May 1942.[29] During the Doolittle Raid, one B-25 is shown having a Norden Bombsight. These bombsights were actually not used in the raid since there was such a high chance of crashing or being captured. In order to prevent the Norden Bombsight from falling into enemy hands, a simple bombsight that cost around 30 cents to make was added to the bombers instead. This bombsight was crude, but effective, and functioned like rifle sights would. An example of the bombsight is on display at Eglin AFB, where the Doolittle Raiders trained. The B-25's in flight are seriously flawed - the aircraft shown are B-25J's with post-1944 insignia on the wings. The correct model would have been the B-25B with 1942 insignia.

Dick Best's friend, Roy Pearce, who dies on USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor and local teacher Zhu Xuesan who helps Doolittle to get to Suzhou, only to be killed during the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign, are fictional characters. In another scene Admiral Yamamoto speaks aloud "We have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with terrible resolve", a quote which was spoken in the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!, even though there is no evidence that Yamamoto said this in reality.[30]

The air battle during the Marshalls–Gilberts raids is portrayed in the film to take place over a mountainous terrain. However, Marshall Islands and Gilbert Islands, where the actual raids took place, are atolls with very low terrain elevation. The film shows some Douglas TBD Devastator planes carrying both bombs and torpedoes at the same time. While the Devastator could be equipped with bombs or torpedoes, strike packages were commonly geared to either torpedo attack or level bombing due to the aircraft's low maximum takeoff weight. The TBD-1 Devastator would normally mount a single Mark 13 torpedo in its torpedo bomber configuration, however some of the aircraft are depicted carrying two additional 100 lb general-purpose (GP) bombs in sling racks along with the torpedo. These two racks were commonly used for 500 lb GP bombs when the aircraft was not carrying a torpedo. Although nearly all of the 41 TBD-1s present at Midway were armed solely with the Mark 13 torpedo, a select few pilots did attach additional ordinance to their aircraft, however they were the exception and not the norm.[31][32] While the film shows Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters present during the Marshalls–Gilberts raids, Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service units stationed in the area (Chitose Air Group and Yokohama Air Group) did not possess the new Zero type of fighters at the time but operated only the older Mitsubishi A5M fighters.[33]

The film does not depict Task Force 17 comprised solely of the Yorktown commanded by Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, who was the actual tactical commander in both the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway.[33] Instead, the film shows Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance as the tactical commander of all three carriers during the Battle of Midway. However, Vice Admiral Fletcher did cede tactical control to Rear Admiral Spruance after the USS Yorktown was hit a second time. The film also omits Lt. Cmdr. Max Leslie, commander of Bombing Squadron 3 (VB-3) of USS Yorktown. Leslie and Lieutenant Commander Wade McClusky, from USS Enterprise, arrived above the Japanese task force at the precise moment and together released their bombs on the Japanese carriers. Leslie himself did not have a bomb as it was accidentally released via a faulty electrical arming switch. Nevertheless, he also dived with the rest of the SBDs, strafing carrier decks. During the initial attempts by Midway-based bombers to strike at the Japanese fleet carriers, ten to thirteen B-26s are depicted with at least five being destroyed when in reality only four took part (two of which were shot down). In addition, they are depicting dropping bombs, when actually they were armed with torpedoes.[34] USS Nautilus is depicting attacking an enemy carrier during the battle; in reality, the submarine was attacking the Japanese battleship Kirishima. Ensign George Gay is depicting being shot down before he can accomplish anything. In reality, he completed his torpedo attack on the Japanese aircraft carrier Sōryū before he was shot down, but Sōryū evaded his torpedo.[35] After the Akagi is critically damaged, Minoru Genda is portrayed as persuading Nagumo to save himself. It was actually Ryūnosuke Kusaka.[36] The film depicts Bruno Gaido being thrown overboard with an anchor by the Japanese just after the bombings of the aircraft carriers Kaga, Akagi and Sōryū, though Frank Woodrow O'Flaherty's fate isn't shown. In reality, they were interrogated and tortured and then killed two weeks later, by being tied to water-filled kerosene cans.[37][38] Best's attack on the Hiryu was depicted as a glide bombing attack whereas in real life he performed a dive bombing attack. The real crippling blow to the Hiryu was delivered by Ensign Jack "Dusty" Kleiss, who is omitted in the movie.[38] Hiryu is scuttled by two torpedoes causing explosions that engulf the flight deck where Yamaguchi and Kaku are standing; in real life, Yamaguchi and Kaku had moved to the bridge of the stricken carrier waving to the crew who were abandoning ship. When the carrier was scuttled, one torpedo missed and the other struck near the bow without the typical plume of water, although the detonation was quite visible.[39]

• Midway (1976 film)
• Pearl Harbor (film)

• Official website
• Midway on IMDb 
• Midway at AllMovie