THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY is one of those all-star war films in which a string of ageing Hollywood heroes are paraded out, one after the other, to occupy the stiff-shirted roles of various Naval officers. The background of the film is the famous battle between the Americans and the Japanese during the Pacific War.
I mean, the cast is great. Any Hollywood fan can't cease to be wowed by the amount of talent around. There's old Chuck Heston, gnawing his way through the scenery wherever he can, and a fading Henry Fonda, making the best of his once-legendary status. There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-him Robert Mitchum, laid up in bed for his cameo appearance, and a ubiquitous Toshiro Mifune. The actors keep rolling in: Cliff Robertson, James Coburn, Robert Wagner, Glenn Ford, Hal Holbrook; a veritable who's who of famous faces. I love ensemble productions like this.
Sadly, the rest of the film can't hope to match a cast of that calibre. The plot seems slow-winded and unfocused, and it takes forever - more than half the running time - before the battle actually kicks off. And when it does kick off, the film is let down by the almost total lack of newly-filmed battle sequences; instead, grainy old stock footage is used from WW2. While I appreciate the authentic quality of such footage, the difference in quality to the rest of the film is just too noticeable.
For now, TORA! TORA! TORA! remains the definitive film on the events of the Pacific War, although fans looking for an army rather than naval perspective should check out the Spielberg-produced miniseries, THE PACIFIC.
I mean, the cast is great. Any Hollywood fan can't cease to be wowed by the amount of talent around. There's old Chuck Heston, gnawing his way through the scenery wherever he can, and a fading Henry Fonda, making the best of his once-legendary status. There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-him Robert Mitchum, laid up in bed for his cameo appearance, and a ubiquitous Toshiro Mifune. The actors keep rolling in: Cliff Robertson, James Coburn, Robert Wagner, Glenn Ford, Hal Holbrook; a veritable who's who of famous faces. I love ensemble productions like this.
Sadly, the rest of the film can't hope to match a cast of that calibre. The plot seems slow-winded and unfocused, and it takes forever - more than half the running time - before the battle actually kicks off. And when it does kick off, the film is let down by the almost total lack of newly-filmed battle sequences; instead, grainy old stock footage is used from WW2. While I appreciate the authentic quality of such footage, the difference in quality to the rest of the film is just too noticeable.
For now, TORA! TORA! TORA! remains the definitive film on the events of the Pacific War, although fans looking for an army rather than naval perspective should check out the Spielberg-produced miniseries, THE PACIFIC.