UHD Review Midway – UHD Review (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

In response to the catastrophic failure of military intelligence that led to the decimation of a good portion of the US Navy’s fleet during the attack on Pearl Harbor, American leadership began preparations for a counter attack. One that would convince Americans that this was a fight we could win and one that would cripple the Japanese naval capabilities. Electronic Intelligence intercepts translated by codebreakers began to indicate that a massive second attack would occur somewhere in the Pacific, and became convinced it would center on the island of Midway. By stealthily moving forces to intercept the Japanese fleet, America turned the tide of World War II. They decisively wrecked the Japanese capabilities at Midway, including sinking their flagship destroyer and sole aircraft carrier.
2019’s Midway presents a...

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[Robert Crawford]

Thank you for your review. I was dubious about the movie before it's opening, but I think it's better than the film score you gave it. It's more like a 2.0-2.5 film score for me. I'll probably buy the 4K digital and not the disc though as I need to be careful with disc storage space.

 

[Larry Carlson]

Sam, thank you for an excellent review of a very good movie. You nailed it. The movie was good but not quite as good as one would have hoped for. But this is probably as good as we’re going to get. I doubt that there will ever be another movie made about this incredibly important battle (unless, of course I hit the lottery).

And now the history geek has to have a few words. The reason the loss of those four carriers was so important was that Japan did not have the industrial capacity to replace them. If memory serves me they had a total of nine before the battle. So nearly half their carrier force was lost in this one battle. And the Pacific War at sea was going going to be a carrier fight.

Recommended Books: Miracle At Midway by Gordon Prange The Battle Of Midway by Craig Symonds

Hope this is worthwhile and thanks for the review. This disc goes in my collection, flaws and all.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

A bit of historical trivia about USS Yorktown, one of the two American aircraft carriers that were lost during the Battle of Midway.

In 1940 the Navy had begun constructing a new class of "fast carriers," the first of which was USS Essex. At the time of the Battle of Midway construction was underway on a new Essex-class carrier in Newport News, Virginia. This carrier was supposed to be named USS Bon Homme Richard, the name of the flagship of John Paul Jones during the American Revolution. After USS Yorktown was sunk at Midway, the Navy decided to change the name of the new carrier to USS Yorktown, and it was given the hull number CV-10. The new Yorktown saw action in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, and was a recovery ship for the Apollo 8 mission. It also can be seen in the film Tora! Tora! Tora! The ship is now a museum near Charleston, South Carolina.

The Navy didn't forget about the name Bon Homme Richard. USS Bon Homme Richard CV-31 was commissioned in 1944 and also saw action in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. It also happens to have been the aircraft carrier that I served aboard in 1969 and 1970.

I've been on the fence about getting the film because of its mediocre reviews, but now I think that I will buy it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

A bit of historical trivia about USS Yorktown, one of the two American aircraft carriers that were lost during the Battle of Midway.

In 1940 the Navy had begun constructing a new class of "fast carriers," the first of which was USS Essex. At the time of the Battle of Midway construction was underway on a new Essex-class carrier in Newport News, Virginia. This carrier was supposed to be named USS Bon Homme Richard, the name of the flagship of John Paul Jones during the American Revolution. After USS Yorktown was sunk at Midway, the Navy decided to change the name of the new carrier to USS Yorktown, and it was given the hull number CV-10. The new Yorktown saw action in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, and was a recovery ship for the Apollo 8 mission. It also can be seen in the film Tora! Tora! Tora! The ship is now a museum near Charleston, South Carolina.

The Navy didn't forget about the name Bon Homme Richard. USS Bon Homme Richard CV-31 was commissioned in 1944 and also saw action in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. It also happens to have been the aircraft carrier that I served aboard in 1969 and 1970.

I've been on the fence about getting the film because of its mediocre reviews, but now I think that I will buy it.

I thought the Americans lost one carrier during the Battle of Midway.

 

[Walter Kittel]

On the fence about this one. I really love the 1976 version; although I believe I enjoy the film more than a subjective view of the merits of the film would indicate. I think it is the large cast plus the combat footage that makes it hold up so well for me. Curious how this version compares to the 1976 version.

As per the Battle of Midway wikipedia page, the US lost the carrier Yorktown and the destroyer Hammann.

- Walter.

 

[andySu]

PreOrdred Amazon last month and should be dispatched within a week or so now.

Got the 1976 Midway so I know the story. I want see how those CGI airplanes and battleships look with sound editing mixing, by oscar nominated Greg P. Russell, who did the mix on Pearl Harbor 2001.

Midway 1976 only has a odd like mono on the region 2 DVD I think an out of phase that makes it sound like stereo but leaks effects dialogue into the surrounds.

It under did at box office with just making its profit back but not enough to look like an epic blockbuster. Unlike ID4 that took the box office by storm in 1997.

 

[Sam Posten]

Folks, I just realized an error in the review: shows a production score of 1. Should be 3.5. Those responsible have been sacked. Er, it will be fixed soon.

 

[Sam Posten]

Score updated. Sorry for any confusion. It;s definitely a 3.5 outta 5 or so, not near a 1 =)

 

[Rick Thompson]

Please get the history right (though maybe this is the fault of the film, which I have not seen): The Yorktown was not a battleship; it was an aircraft carrier. Wade McClusky did not do a "dogged following" of anything, least of all a battleship. McClusky arrived at where the Japanese force was supposed to be, but they were not there. McClusky started a search pattern, saw a wake, followed it, and came up on the Arashi (a destroyer, not a battleship) racing ahead at top speed. He reckoned the Arashi was trying to join up with the main fleet, so he set off on the Arashi's course, leaving the ship far behind. Taking that course did, in fact, lead his squadron (including Best) to the Japanese fleet.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

Robert,

I caught that right after I posted it. Nothing gets by anyone here!

 

[Malcolm R]

EDIT: Wrong thread.

 

[Tino]

Unlike ID4 that took the box office by storm in 1997.

ID 4 was released in 1996

 

[Randy Korstick]

Please get the history right (though maybe this is the fault of the film, which I have not seen): The Yorktown was not a battleship; it was an aircraft carrier. Wade McClusky did not do a "dogged following" of anything, least of all a battleship. McClusky arrived at where the Japanese force was supposed to be, but they were not there. McClusky started a search pattern, saw a wake, followed it, and came up on the Arashi (a destroyer, not a battleship) racing ahead at top speed. He reckoned the Arashi was trying to join up with the main fleet, so he set off on the Arashi's course, leaving the ship far behind. Taking that course did, in fact, lead his squadron (including Best) to the Japanese fleet.

The movie definitely refers to them as Aircraft Carriers. That would have been unforgivable. Like calling a Truck a Tank.

 

[Randy Korstick]

I really enjoyed this one at the theaters. My score would be 4 out of 5 same score I give the 1976 Midway. The Dive bombing scenes were very intense in this on the big screen. Hopefully it holds up on the small screen. I was hoping for an extended cut on Blu Ray to fill in missing scenes that felt cut and rushed in the movie like the battle of Coral Sea and the Japanese attacks on the Yorktown at Midway. But from what I understand they were never filmed due to budgetary reasons.

 

[Sam Posten]

Please get the history right (though maybe this is the fault of the film, which I have not seen): The Yorktown was not a battleship; it was an aircraft carrier. Wade McClusky did not do a "dogged following" of anything, least of all a battleship. McClusky arrived at where the Japanese force was supposed to be, but they were not there. McClusky started a search pattern, saw a wake, followed it, and came up on the Arashi (a destroyer, not a battleship) racing ahead at top speed. He reckoned the Arashi was trying to join up with the main fleet, so he set off on the Arashi's course, leaving the ship far behind. Taking that course did, in fact, lead his squadron (including Best) to the Japanese fleet.

The Yorktown is in the film for a hot minute, I'll fix the inaccuracy.

The film does show McClusky using the wake as a line of bearing, but it doesn't make clear if he follows the ship or flies ahead of it.

 

[Sam Posten]

Edit: changes inserted. Let me know if you see I got anything else factually wrong. Again, I am not a student of this history, there is a LOT going on in this movie, I am working from my memory and brief research literally hours after having seen the film.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

Yeah. Just a bit more. The end of the first paragraph.

By stealthily moving forces to intercept the Japanese fleet, America turned the tide of World War II. They decisively wrecked the Japanese capabilities at Midway, including sinking their flagship destroyer and sole aircraft carrier.

They didn't decisively wreck Japanese Naval capabilities (overall), but they did deal a massive blow to Japanese Naval Aviation (their carrier force).

The line about losses is reversed. We lost a destroyer and a carrier, both technically lost after the battle, the Yorktown was under tow, the Hamman was providing power to her and a Japanese submarine launched a spread of 5 torpedoes. One torpedo hit and sank the Hamman, and 2 hit the Yorktown. At that point we gave up on salvaging the Yorktown.

The US sank 4 Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) carriers: Hiryu, Soryu, Kagi and Akaga. And they had more left. We also sank 1 heavy cruiser, Mikuma.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

Edit: changes inserted. Let me know if you see I got anything else factually wrong. Again, I am not a student of this history, there is a LOT going on in this movie, I am working from my memory and brief research literally hours after having seen the film.

err, changes posted above

 

[Randy Korstick]

Yeah. Just a bit more. The end of the first paragraph.



They didn't decisively wreck Japanese Naval capabilities (overall), but they did deal a massive blow to Japanese Naval Aviation (their carrier force).

The line about losses is reversed. We lost a destroyer and a carrier, both technically lost after the battle, the Yorktown was under tow, the Hamman was providing power to her and a Japanese submarine launched a spread of 5 torpedoes. One torpedo hit and sank the Hamman, and 2 hit the Yorktown. At that point we gave up on salvaging the Yorktown.

The US sank 4 Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) carriers: Hiryu, Soryu, Kagi and Akaga. And they had more left. We also sank 1 heavy cruiser, Mikuma.

Correct, to be exact the IJN still had the following full sized fleet carriers left after Midway: Shokaku, Zuikaku, Ryujo, and Junyo with Hiyo launched a month or so after around July or August of 1942. Only 1 other operational full sized carrier was launched the Taiho which launched in March of 1944. Midway greatly reduced the Japanese carrier Fleet which was previously the largest in the world at that time. They were never able to reproduce that power while the US continued to build carriers and had at least a 3-1 carrier advantage from 1944 an on. While losing the overall operation at Guadacanal later in 1942 they did get a small revenge by winning the carrier battles at Guadacanal. Where the US lost The Hornet, the recently launched Wasp and had the Enterprise heavily damaged while the Japanese only lost the Ryujo. But it was too little too late at that point.