Everyone must know that our old friend Emmerich is the director of "Independence Day", "The Day After Tomorrow" and "2012".
This time, what Emmerich brings to you is "The Battle of Midway", which is based on a true story. Perhaps because of this, the film is very different from Emmerich's special effects disaster theme in the past.
This difference makes "Battle of Midway" a bit strange. Whether from an action point of view or a narrative point of view, let's talk about these two points.
Since it is a special effects action blockbuster, let’s talk about the visual effects that everyone cares about the most. Basically, it is enough to manage enough. The naval battle is quite exciting, especially if you are an aircraft controller and an aircraft carrier controller, it is estimated that you will like this movie more.
The film tells that on December 7, 1941, during World War II, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the Pacific War broke out, and the United States really joined the battlefield of World War II. On June 4, 1942, the Midway War broke out, and the United States was smaller in terms of military numbers. Boda, won the battle.
There are many characters and clues in "Battle of Midway". The plot is mainly based on the Battle of Midway, but at the same time, buy one get two free, with the Pearl Harbor incident and the bombing of Tokyo incident, which can basically show the audience the early days of the Pacific War. the most important battles.
The characters have also reached the point where everyone is a group performer. The director's intention is nothing more than to put the real protagonist of the film on Midway and the war itself, not on the characters. How to do it, we will talk about it later.
Emmerich is still very skilled in controlling the big scenes. In the naval battle in the film, he can make a viewer like me who does not understand war tactics at all, and can easily understand how to collect intelligence and how to use it. Sink the aircraft carrier.
The budget of "Battle of Midway" is only 100 million US dollars. For a war-themed movie of more than 2 hours, the cost is not high. Compared with "2012" 10 years ago, if inflation is not discussed, "2012" Both have budgets of $200 million.
Compared with the same level, "Pearl Harbor" almost 20 years ago cost 140 million US dollars, which is estimated to be doubled today.
Saying this is to explain why the special effects actions in the film are particularly CGI. After all, this budget can't be like "Dunkirk", and I can really move an IMAX camera on the fighter plane to shoot, so almost all war scenes are shot. It was done on green screen.
This will make people feel that they are watching the material video material package of large-scale war games. Of course, this is not a derogatory meaning, because the material pictures of today's large-scale war games are not bad.
After talking about the special effects and actions, let's take a look at the narrative of the film. This should be the most straightforward narrative structure of the major war films in recent years. The film starts at Pearl Harbor, and the United States decides to fight back, and then bombs Tokyo, preparing for the battle of Midway, training, and decisive battle. Midway.
In each of the links here, the director tries his best to restore the historical classics, including every word said by historical figures.
The disadvantage of such an evenly distributed storytelling model will make the film not look like a film. Every historical event is piled up together, and it looks like everything is covered, but the whole is a mess. The film loses its focus and center of gravity.
In other words, the film is more like a processed military documentary with the main theme, not to mention the director's charm, and even the narrative charm of the film no longer exists.
Many people will compare "Battle of Midway" with "Pearl Harbor". Obviously, "Battle of Midway" cannot be compared with "Pearl Harbor" in terms of narrative, characterization and other aspects.
Although from today's point of view, the triangular relationship between the protagonists of "Pearl Harbor" is indeed a bit bloody, but at least "Pearl Harbor" also added the delicate emotions of small-scale characters when it completed the clear and shocking Pearl Harbor incident. In terms of the richness of its resonance, Pearl Harbor does a very good job.
By the way, the director of "Pearl Harbor" sells copies. I didn't expect that, in those days, selling copies could still make a normal and excellent movie.
Going back to "Battle of Midway", based on such a stylized narration of boiled water, the characters in the film will naturally not become successful.
It is the protagonist, but hides in the battle and becomes a group performance that promotes the battle.
The narrative mode of "Battle of Midway" is actually similar to that of "2012". "2012" is the protagonist of the end of the world, with the male protagonist as the first escape adventure, but "2012" puts the budget cost on the edge, Except for the protagonists who are familiar with the characters in the film, the other characters did not have any sense of existence at the time, which also made the audience focus on the end of the world itself.
I said earlier that it is not impossible to do this, but what makes me wonder is why "Battle of Midway" still invites so many first-line actors, and good actors themselves cannot perform their acting skills, which is also a waste of cost.
Moreover, the dialogue and the state of the characters in "Battle of Midway" feel that everyone lives in 2019 instead of World War II. Every character in the film has no sense of urgency at all. It seems that everyone sees through the veil of history and feels that this The battle must be inevitable, and the U.S. military will certainly win.
What makes me laugh the most is that even the role of the Japanese army is a feeling that they are going to lose. You must know that in real history, after the Japanese army attacked Pearl Harbor and won the victory, the whole of Japan was in a state of extreme expansion. I feel that I am the number one in the world, which is also the reason why the arrogant Japanese soldiers will be defeated in the future.
The various characters and dialogues in the film can't really create a sense of tension. While watching the film, I kept thinking, when will the final battle at Midway Island, I just want to see how the special effects are like, don't be there That's a play.
And a really powerful film based on real history adaptation is to let the audience get a sense of tension in the film even if they know the results of historical events. This is the power of script weaving.
In the end, I gave "The Battle of Midway" 6.8 points (3.5 stars), as a cool film about war, the film put aside the reflection and cruelty of war, and simply highlighted the big scenes in the early stages of the entire Pacific War. Emmerich put his His best strengths and worst weaknesses are all contributed to the audience.
View more about Midway reviews
