Midway
2019
*½
Director: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Luke Evans, Aaron Eckhart, Nick Jonas, Etsushi Toyokawa, Tadanobu Asano, Mandy Moore, Dennis Quaid, Woody Harrelson
Six months after Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy emerges victorious from the Battle of Midway, which ends up being a pivotal turning point in the Pacific War. Roland Emmerich's film about these events features several characters who are based on real people. Or well, calling this parade of names and faces characters is a gross overstatement. Dive bomber pilot Dick Best is one of the few who is at least somewhat fleshed out, but Ed Skrein plays him with the worst American accent in the history of cinema. This is not a drama that makes you ponder the horrors of war, this is jingoistic war entertainment, where every few minutes one of the American soldiers performs a heroic deed. There is plenty of war action, but sadly Emmerich has recreated it all with fake-looking CGI.
