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"The Man in the High Castle", season 4, Episode 1
I'm quite a fan of this show - alternative history was always something I preferred, compared to pure fantasy. The first three seasons were very good and this will be the final one.
I like the atmosphere and the small details you can see throughout the episodes incl. uniforms, weapons, technology, architecture etc. It's like a collection or museum of old artifacts from the real and from the cinematic (fictitious) worlds.
I actually enjoyed it. I was expecting a somewhat Pearl Harbor type movie but this was much better (a single pilot flies spitfires in the Battle of Britain, P-40s at Pearl Harbor, B-25s over Tokyo? give me a break). I thought the CG was good, sometimes a bit out of perspective (it looked like the Japanese planes were flying through the trees in Honolulu) but did a good job of putting you on the deck and showing the chaos of the Arizona during the attack. It basically was a Cliff's notes version of history from cause of war (Japan was dependent on oil from America, but didn't say America shut off oil due to invasion of China), through the Battle of Midway. As such, it had to eliminate a lot and only could show their selected high spots. Things hit that were not commonly known; Admiral Halsey's Shingles (a terrible, painful disease for older people), the cause of the war, miracle of the repair of the Yorktown, early attacks from Midway B-17s, B-26s, and TBFs causing interruption of flight ops (I don't think they showed any TBFs though), a B-26 almost crashing into the island of the Akagi, lousy, rotten American torpedoes, John Ford on the island photographing the attack, the inexperience of the B-26 and maybe the TBF crews on launching torpedoes too far away (which probably wouldn't have worked anyway), the tender box of the enclosed Japanese hanger decks and the associated fires. Things missed; only four B-26s were involve (they showed at least six), B-26s were not level bombers but torpedo bombers, a B-26 that flew down the flight deck of the Akagi machine gunning the crew (I'm sure time would not let them but it would have made an exciting shot), the statement that the B-26 that almost hit the Akagi had stuck flight controls because Amercans were too soft for that (by that time, the Battle of the Coral Sea had been fought, the TBFs had fatally pressed home their attacks, three B-26s had penetrated to weapon release points with the one mentioned above having flown over flight deck of the Akagi).
While that attack did not cause any damage, other that a plane or two shot down and some men were lost, it did critically affect the timing of Japanese operations, maybe fatally, and I'm sure certainly shocked the Japanese.
There were other cinematic liberties taken.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie, certainly more than I expected. I'm sure people responsible for the picture were probably aware the books "Shattered Sword" and "The First Team".
From your review it actually sounds quite good overall given what one can usually expect from " Hollywood".I liked the movie more than I expected to as well. It was definitely a step above Pearl Harbor without a doubt.
Is there a separate thread yet for this movie? I think it could benefit from a detailed critique here. I'll post my thoughts here and if there does turn out to be another thread, I'll move them there.
As you noted, they included many details that made that dramatic battle even more interesting like the bad torpedoes, the effects of the failed torpedo bombers on Japanese operations, the presence of subs during the battle, the challenges of putting out fires when the power is out, the basic challenges of flying carrier operations (I thought they did a good job of giving you a little bit of the feel of being on a small early-war carrier, which most films don't capture well). Dick Bests problem with his O2. The initial screw up of all the SBDs attacking the same carrier (Kaga) until Best led 3 of them to attack the Akagi. The risks / threat of assassination to more 'moderate' leaders like Yamamoto. And the presence of John Ford at Midway Island. To me it was these details which kind of saved the film, some of the CGI / action sequences were quite dramatic and fun, but the acting and dialogue was stilted, there was enough slightly 'off' with the CGI, and I think having the extra historical tidbits added a great deal and took this movie for me from a 'D' rating to a C-.
I'd call it a 'war-procedural', almost a new genre. I say almost because there is a subgenre of war films like that, The Longest Day would be my vote for the best example, in which the overall battle is kind of the star with the focus moving in and out of individual characters lives. Midway (2019) was not on par with the Longest Day but in some respects it was better than the 1970s Midway film (with all that mismatched war footage) and overall, I'd compare it to a long episode of the old History Channel series Dogfights. I think if these were done slightly better this 'war-procedural' format could be quite successful going forward.
There were also some very strange omissions, such as a total lack of F4Fs. Did anyone else who saw the film notice one? While it's true that during the actual battle of Midway the bombers ended up kind of on their own, the film showed a broad range of actions leading up to Midway and the US fighters were certainly important in fending off Japanese bombers attacking their own ships, and in providing escorts in later flights. Based on the movie there were no American fighters and SBDs were shooting down zeros left and right. Dick Best was an amazingly successful dive bomber pilot but I don't think he shot down 4 or 5 zeros (did he even shoot down any?).
My guess is the CG budget allowed for what was clearly a very detailed and well done model of an SBD. I can see that they also had A6M, looked like G3M "Nell" bombers, maybe D3A Val and B5N but I think I only saw those from a distance, along with TBD Devastators and those B-26 Marauders which were mentioned (but not fully accurately portrayed). Maybe they just didn't have enough of a budget to portray any US fighters, but it did distort things a bit. I think they just ran out of money for their 3D models and didn't have time to make a good F4F model. I also didn't see any PBYs, or Buffalos (or P-40s or P-39s or any other US fighter). There was an E-13 float plane which was nice.
My biggest gripe with the film though was actually due to the CGI. Their SBD was very well done, in fact I'd say the Dauntless was by far the biggest star of the film. But everything was exaggerated. The planes were too close to each other - yes I'm sure sometimes they got within 50 feet but if you had Zeros or any other fighter routinely that close to you, shooting, you were very likely going to be dead or certainly shot down. So stretch it out a little. Similarly there was too much flak and seemingly every SBD or strafing A6M pullout was literally two inches above the water, sometimes dipping into the water and still flying. They don't need to push it that much, it makes it harder to buy into. A 200 foot pull out is scary enough, even a 2,000 foot pullout is still plenty dramatic. And you don't need to see 5 planes blow up within seconds to show it's risky to dive bomb while being targeted by dozens of flak guns.
On the other hand, I think with the CG they could have done a better job of showing the effects of larger caliber bullets and cannon shells. All the bullet holes looked the same and kind of generic. I think seeing some explosive cannon shells hitting those SBDs and the big, torn open holes they leave would have been eye opening.
I thought they did a pretty good job of exposition in terms of showing the context, in that it was economical while getting the point across. One example was the scene in the beginning where Yamamoto warns a US intelligence officer in an unrealistically candid conversation, not to push Japan into a corner. Got the point across fairly quickly. But they could have given you a sense of the other drama going on at the time of Coral Sea- the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and etc. Five more minutes at the map table could have conveyed the gloomy menace of the moment a lot better and heightened the drama. They did portray the Japanese in a somewhat interesting manner.
I have my doubts as to whether 250,000 Chinese died directly as a result of the Doolittle raid and suspect that was added in to please the Chinese financial backers of the film, but I am willing to be proven wrong.
One thing seems likely to me, the financial success of Midway will spur more of these kinds of films to be made. I think guys like us, and the millions of kids who play games like World of Warplanes - are the target audience. Perhaps I'd like to think we are the old wise men of that goofy demographic. Maybe we can influence how the next one will be made. I have a strong hunch that some of the little details included in this one came from sources like Dan Carlin and certain popular online videos which were very accurate and realistic. Maybe a coherent critique will help influence the next one in a more positive direction.
just finished the last episode last night.Britannia season 2 episodes 1 and 2.
Both book and movie are goodThe book was great.