Midway

While America still reeled from the startling attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese were attempting to gain control of the Midway Islands in the mid-Pacific as their launchpad to the American mainland. From here there would be nothing to obstruct an invasion of America and so naturally the Japanese wanted it while America was still grossly unarmed in the region. Told from both sides without prejudice, this is a fairly interesting account of events and is interspersed with real footage and clever recreations to deliver the full aspect of the theatre of war in the Pacific.

Charlton Heston plays Captain Matt Garth, a dedicated and intelligent leader under the command of Admiral Chester Nimitz (Henry Fonda). Together they anticipate the movements of the Japanese and using leaked messages manage to break certain codes and gather a resistance among their depleted resources. To compound matters, Lieutenant Tom Garth (son of Matt) has arrived on the base with a problem. He’s in love with an American (of Japanese ancestry) who is being deported to Japan as an enemy sympathiser. On top of that the battle is gearing up and pilots are becoming scarce, so both Tom and Matt must hit the skies together in the final confrontation of the battle.

"Were we better than the Japanese, or just luckier?"

This is a big budget war film that utilises actual war footage of the battle interspersed with clever and authentic recreations. The shear scope of the arena is maintained throughout with the sweeping ocean landscapes and informative technical maneuvre maps and whilst getting a little confusing at times, for the most part the story is followable. At times I didn’t understand why certain things meant certain others, like why having one ship here was enough against another ship here or whatever. This kept me from fully understanding why something was happening and so I didn’t get as much from the film as I should have, but that could have been just me.

Performances are all fabulous with Charlton Heston in classic '70s mode. Henry Fonda should have been used more in the film as the wily Admiral, but it seems his role was mostly relegated to behind the scenes references. There is quite a large cast behind these two stalwarts and all do their jobs well, but again contributed to my confusion regarding the story. The special effects are all fabulous too, with some very convincing explosions and boats sinking and such and the added bonus of actual footage is fantastic. These also help bring the point home that this really happened and isn’t just a made-up war drama. Perhaps running a tiny bit too long, I think that was probably to make the best use of the awesome budget they must have had to make the film. Anyhow, it is still well worth the look and is a powerful story of a victory against overwhelming odds.

With the use of genuine footage from the actual fighting, naturally the film quality is going to be less than the best, but this is entirely forgiveable in this instance. A transfer by the Sony DVD Center is a big plus here, as they do an exceptional job and it probably looks better for their influence. The rest of the film is quite good looking and is presented in the full size cinema aspect of 2.35:1 with 16:9 enhancement. There are artefacts and so forth, but not a great deal and certainly nothing obtrusive and it kinda adds to the war motif anyway.

Picture quality is fairly good and colour levels are all relatively even. Shadows are well detailed in the battleship architecture that is naturally quite a prevalent background. Flesh tones are well portrayed and there are just about every kind in the world at some point or another, with all looking natural and even.

With so many battle sounds, exploding things and screaming aircraft we could be forgiven for wanting surround sound, but unfortunately we only get Dolby Digital stereo. Still, it’s up to the task with some nice balances throughout. There are plenty of stock sound effects, too, in the gunfire or kerploding boats and ocean detonations, but they aren’t so bad really. Occasionally one gets used just once too often, but generally they’re okay.

The musical score is fabulous though. Composed by master scoresmith John Williams, this has plenty of triumphant battle bits and reflective moody bits all effectively conveying the mood of a particular scene. Scored just before he hit the big time with that Star Wars thing, this is full of his trademark sounds and really adds depth to the film.

There's quite a plethora of war relics here. Our first entry is The Making of Midway, a 39 minute documentary about, well, the making of Midway. Presented in 1.78:1 without enhancement, this is a series of interviews with historians and buffs, plus Charlton Heston and plenty of film footage. The origins of the film are discussed and an interesting note is how this full-length film came about from viewing some shorter ones on the subject of the Battle of Midway.

The Sounds of Midway finds us in a short featurette about Sensurround, what was a precursor to the surround sound we know and love today. Some soundbite interviews are included, though the piece only runs for 4:18. The last in this series, The Score of Midway isn’t about drugs, but about the music in the film. John Williams himself is interviewed on the subject and this is some very entertaining listening, though this featurette only runs for 6:24. This and the other two were all shot in 2001 and produced and directed by the same guy, Laurent Bouzereau.

A rousing documentary at 4:3 about the survivors of the battle who were used as consultants is next. Entitled They Were There and running for 6:21, this is thankfully short visionwise, because the quality of the master is appalling. Narrated by Charlton Heston, this is so soft as to look like a busy artist’s palette after work. However, this does hold some amazing genuine footage of the very first aircraft carriers and is incredibly interesting, so we can almost overlook the poor condition. This was written and produced by Robert Faber (no relation) in 1976, which probably accounts for the shitty quality.

A short photo montage limps along behind and runs for three minutes as a short film containing all black and white stills and promo pics. Additional scenes follow and run for 10:31. There are six here and five of these are obviously a deleted subplot, because they feature Charlton Heston with his character’s new love interest (who doesn’t appear in the film). I’m kinda glad they were cut, because this storyline is rather boring.

Finally, the trailer, which is very soft around the edges, is 4:3, grainy and the sound is shithouse. It runs for an incredibly long 2:35 and is so horrible to look at compared to the actual film, it’s barely worth it.

A rather complete swag of extras then, to round out the disc nicely. Some very interesting information and any buff of World War II or the Midway campaign is sure to love it.

As far as discs go this one is pretty full up with everything the discerning war buff could want and then some. A fairly good film for the most part and a massive booty of extras do deliver the value, without doubt. Anyone interested in a rousing war epic is bound to love it even if it does drag on a little long. The last hour is the best, with the tension building nicely to a final confrontation and Williams’ music is excellent (even if only delivered in stereo). However, the story is a good one and the historical footage adds a documentary flavour to the film that puts you amongst the action. Some uncredited actors show up along the way and Pat Morita (Mr Miyagi from the Karate Kid films) is among them. You will have fun figuring out the others and this is another bonus of this pretty good war film.