Movie Review -- Midway

Hey, guys. I’m in the middle of moving again so I’m afraid I’m going to have to keep this review short. Thankfully I did find a moment to escape to the movie theatre to see Midway, an American war movie detailing the events surrounding the pivotal Battle of Midway in 1942. Is it as stunning a victory as the real-life event or does it land as a dud? Let’s take a look.

The film begins with the attack on Pearl Harbour. A leadership shuffle results in Admiral Chester Nimitz commanding the Pacific Fleet. He charges his intelligence officer Edwin Layton with keeping tabs on the Japanese plans and avoiding another disaster. Together they keep the Pacific Fleet busy in the following months as the navy’s pilots, led by the daring Lt. Richard Best, wreak havok on the high seas. And that’s only some of what goes on in this flick; there’s a lot of plot stuffed into this movie and some of it is ultimately inconsequential to the big picture. This includes the Doolittle Raid, the submarine Nautilus, and some film director on Midway Island.

Similarly there’s also a ton of characters in Midway and there’s only a few truly interesting ones to latch onto, chief among them Nimitz, Layton, and Admiral Yamamoto. Richard Best, played by Ed Skrein, is OK but his accent sure sounds weird.

Perhaps the most disappointing thing about Midway is the obvious CG-heavy effects. The Pearl Harbour attack scene looks downright terrible, like watching a cartoon. Moreover, pretty much every scene taking place at sea is green screened, lending an air of fakery to the picture and makes the battle scenes a little less exciting. It’s a shame that director Roland Emmerich – the guy who made 1996’s Independence Day – has only gotten lazier and lazier with his visual effects.

All in all there’s two movies that come to mind when I think of Midway. There’s similar subject matter to be found in Pearl Harbor (2001), which while way sappier at least has some exciting action and characters that stood out more. I’m also reminded of 1962’s The Longest Day in the overabundance of plot/characters and the whole old-fashioned war movie feel. But at least The Longest Day had some impressive real-world visuals.

So what does Midway have? Pretty much the only neat things I’ll remember are the dogfights, the submarine parts, and any scene showing the Japanese perspective. But these are all things that have been done better in other movies. In short Midway is, in a word, average.

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A Brief Look at Combat Memoirs, Part 2

Welcome back to part 2 of my rundown of combat memoirs that I've happened to have read.

Lima-6: A Marine Company Commander in Vietnam by R. D. Camp. Pacifica Military History, 1989.

Unfortunately I won't be able to too into depth about this book because I don't have it anymore and I last read it about six years ago. Lima-6 is written by R. D. Camp who commanded a company of US Marines in Vietnam from June 1967 to January 1968. I do remember how the book detailed Camp's efforts to gain the trust of his men; as such a lot of attention is given to the camaraderie between the troops. One moment that stands out for me is when Camp first experiences the death of one of his men. Apart from that I really don't remember much. Lima-6 isn't a bad book but still if you want one about leadership in combat then you're probably better off looking elsewhere.

Mad Minutes and Vietnam Months: A Soldier's Memoir by Micheal Clodfelter. Pinnacle Books, 1988.

I believe that this was one of the first soldier's memoirs I ever read and to this day I still think it's one of the best. Mad Minutes and Vietnam Months – in reference to how life in war is made up of long stretches of boredom broken up by brief moments of action and terror – recalls Michael Clodfelter's experience in the US army in Vietnam from July 1965 to December 1966. He originally enlisted as an artilleryman but volunteered to extend his tour of duty with the infantry, hungry for some action in the service of Uncle Sam. But the jungle's dangers, the hostile populace, and the overall course of the war gradually made him reconsider his prior gung-ho attitude. His time in the army abruptly came to an end after a wound from a punji stake booby trap. Clodfelter's account shows how much patriotism and machismo played a role in how GIs behaved during war. It's also interesting getting to know the troopers he served with. His squadmates run the gamut from cowards to klutzes, from patriots to bloodthirsty killers, from career soldiers to kids, and not all of them get along very well. If you're looking for one book about one soldier's experiences in Vietnam then check out Mad Minutes. It's got everything; it's like Platoon (1986), just without the GIs murdering eachother.

Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936-1949 by Siegfried Knappe. Dell Publishing, 1992.

In Soldat Siegried Knappe covers his entire military career in the German army from 1936 straight to the conclusion of the Second World War. He served as an artillery officer across various fronts including Czechoslovakia, Poland, France, the USSR, and Italy and as Germany's forces retreated back into the Reich Knappe found himself stationed in Berlin's Fuhrerbunker until the bitter end. Captured by the Soviet army, he then spent five years in captivity before returning home and then moving to the USA (as far away from communism as possible). Since the book covers a significant chunk of Knappe's young adulthood you get some nice insight into what it was like to live, grow up, and start a family in Nazi Germany. You also get a good sense of what army life was like back then. While not an especially political individual, Knappe initially had great pride in the achievements his country made in such a short timespan but as the war ground on he grew disillusioned with the inefficient and corrupt Nazi regime. There are a couple drawbacks though; as this is an officer's memoir there isn't all that much combat to be found in these pages. Also the book seems to have a bit of emotional detachment, almost like reading a textbook at times. But still, for those looking for some insight to the German experience of WWII, Soldat has you covered.

Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific by Robert Leckie. Random House, 1957.

Well, this was disappointing. If you've seen by Band of Brothers vs. The Pacific article (from January 2016) then you can probably tell that I'm a big fan of The Pacific which was partially based on this memoir by Robert Leckie, one of the miniseries' main characters. Regrettably, the miniseries makes Leckie's wartime experience look more tense and exciting than this book gets across. While there are a are a couple decent battle scenes – as well as a few tense patrols – most of this book revolves around Leckie and his pals getting drunk, stealing things, and getting in trouble. Helmet for My Pillow is written in a very illustrative, almost poetic, kind of way that contrasts with the brutish life and harsh living conditions. On the other hand, it sometimes comes off as pretentious and boring. At least the book is a short one. I'd recommend this one to die-hard Pacific fans only.

With the Old Breed At Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene Sledge. Ballantine Books, 1981.

However, you don't have to be a fan of The Pacific in order to appreciate the other memoir that it's based on. I'd say that Eugene Sledge's With the Old Breed is probably the best war book I've ever read. Its level of detail is staggering and it unapologetically paints a brutal picture of what combat was like in the Pacific Islands in the Second World War. From notes he kept in his pocket Bible, Sledge lets readers in on the dirty and unsanitary conditions US Marines had to contend with. He also describes the intense hatred both sides had for eachother, which facilitated a loss of compassion and subsequent acts of brutality. In contrast to Helmet for My Pillow, With the Old Breed is written in a very plain, straightforward language that gets across the indignities and fears of the war's participants. As you read it yourself you'll instantly admire the people described within – most of them, anyways – and sympathize with their challenges and heartbreaks. With the Old Breed is a powerful read that I highly recommend to anyone interested in this genre of literature.

Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles by Anthony Swofford. Pocket Books, 2003.

Here's a book of which I've just finished my second read through. Jarhead is scout sniper Anthony Swofford's graphic, no-holds-barred account of his time in the US Marines during the boring and interminable Operation Desert Shield and then finally – but all too briefly – Operation Desert Storm. The central focus of the book concerns the Marines' expectations of a war like their forefathers and their subsequent near-existential disappointment at seeing very little actual combat. This disappointment is compounded by the military culture the author grew up in and that fact that the Marine Corps trained him to be a ruthless killer. But the ground war against Iraq ended so swiftly and uneventfully that all the waiting, isolation, and training seems to have gone to waste. Pretty much the only Iraqis Swofford ever saw were either dead or in the process of surrendering; in fact Swofford didn't ever get to fire his rifle in combat. The author seems aware of how boring such a campaign might be to a reader so to compensate Swofford's book randomly jumps around talking about other stuff from his life both before and after the war, most of which involve drunkenness, fighting, and sex (or any combination thereof). While there are some tense scenes with some haunting imagery – the burning oil wells and the bombed-out columns of retreating vehicles come to mind – Jarhead is a very up-and-down read for me. It's worth reading once but I don't think I need to read it again.