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Midway Reviews


james127
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I just wish the 25s weren't J models. I did enjoy it overall though. Just think CGI people need to play fewer video games!

 

All information on what needed to be changed on the B-25J from a CGI standpoint to appear as a B-25B was provided in detail, but you don't win all the battles.

Here is a photo of our bird going into the hangar in St Jean that was converted to a sound stage for the film, just one foot clearance on each tip...

Airplane was "wrapped", painted in early war colors and markings in the days after.

The carrier deck was well made...she looked cool on the deck!

I was pleased with how the Raiders were represented.

 

John

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Saw it today. Definitely worth the price of admission IMHO. For the younger generations I think it tells a good history story. I thought the CGI was fine but a lot of overcrowded skies & mighty explosions! Thought the uniforms & equipment was pretty well done with some minor exceptions. First thing that caught my eye was the absence of the Red Circle within the Star on the Navy aircraft fudelages. The "meatball" was not painted over until early summer. It appeared correctly on the B-25s aboard ship but they screwed up & put Star & Bar insignia on several long shots from above. Attention to detail! My theatre ran the full John Ford "Midway" documentary prior to the start of the movie. Put the film in perspective. Also M-1 helmets were on the Navy shipboard sailors when they should have been Kelly helmets. They did appear correctly in the Midway land scenes. In the Navy Officers Club scene enlisted sailors are seen at the bar & dancing. No way! LOL I think most will enjoy it! Bobgee.

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I saw it with my grandpa, it was a pretty accurate retelling of Midway, granted they dialogue as everyone says was very cheesy and the special affects I thought lacked a bit especially at the Pearl Harbor scene. Granted I really liked the midway battle itself and the CGI was good in those scenes. Overall it was an okay movie but cant hold a candle to Saving Pvt Ryan or Dunkirk in my opinion

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I thought it was ok, and worth watching at least once. I did find it comical that the wives of the pilots got word of a major battle with losses before Admiral Nimitz. They must have been notified on Instagram. :lol::lol::lol:

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I thought it was ok, and worth watching at least once. I did find it comical that the wives of the pilots got word of a major battle with losses before Admiral Nimitz. They must have been notified on Instagram. :lol::lol::lol:

It was probably on My -space.

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There sure weren't many real airplanes in the film, good to see at least one!

 

Here is another view of Wild Cargo once on the deck.

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View of the replica WWII chocks and a close up of the deck.

 

John

 

These are great pictures! Where is St Jean where you had to take your plane?

 

Kat

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These are great pictures! Where is St Jean where you had to take your plane?

 

Kat

 

St Jean is a small airport south east of the main airport in Montreal, Canada, outside of town.

Much of the main filming for Midway was in Mel Studios in Montreal itself.

I was on the set for some of the Pearl Harbor shoot, specifically the scenes scrambling across the rope from the Arizona.

Sets were absolutely massive and very impressive.

 

John

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I think they should have glossed over Pearl Harbor and stuck to the battle, maybe started with the carriers returning to Pearl after the attack. The movie really skipped important details, like the attack on the Aleutians. They also didn't do a good job of portraying the confusion of the Japs arming and re-arming their planes which led to the carriers, and the CAP being out of position being vulnerable. The original is still much better.

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BILL THE PATCH

The Japanese would have never wasted a perfectly good anchor. And I also caught the m-1 helmet screwup. Overall ok. Still think the original was better

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

 

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Here is an enroute photo from the left seat, for the B25 enthusiasts out there, on the way up St Jean.

Who isn't a fan of the B-25? The best looking US twin of the WW2 era!

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I took two friends along to see it last night, both have almost no interest military aviation or WW2, just went along for fun.... It was a history lesson for them and they asked lots of questions afterwards

 

For me it was a mix of "where are the F4Fs?" and "don't think an SBD could do that" (I was waiting for that SBD to actually land on the Japanese carrier, he then jumps out of the cockpit, pulls out his .45 and tell the captain to surrender).

 

I said afterwards that I didn't think the SBDs could have sunk four Japanese carriers if there really were no F4Fs in the battle.

 

There are enough F4Fs flying right now that they could have easily had a few minutes of Jimmy Thatch or other F4F notables..... not good enough! (and they would have had some real aircraft in the movie)………

 

I guess overall it was ok, certainly much better than trash like Pearl Harbor, some real aircraft would have been nice though.

 

cheers, John

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Interesting reviews from experts in the field!! I look forward to seeing the film again to pick up on the comments.

I loved it. Whats not to enjoy, when we all want to commemorate, remember and keep the memory alive of what that generation did for us! It was such an historic time in history. I was gripped, and so were my sons. Very educational, and I learnt more from it too. Yes, some areas and scenes were rushed, but I guess they had to cut it to a 2 hour film.

I have been reading lots of books on the key characters, including "The flying guns" by Lt Clarence Dickinson, "Sole survivor" by Ens George 'Tex' Gay, "Don't call me a hero" by Jack 'Dusty' Kleiss. I highly recommend reading these books if you haven't already done so.

I know the military advisor to the film, and know how much effort went into getting the uniforms and equipment correct, including early flight goggles, Mk1 life vests and early leather gloves to name but a few. The uniform props are brilliant quality having got them in hand.

Graham

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There are plenty of details that the film makers got wrong, unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the costume advisors, but the Navy was using M1 helmets by June of 1942, as witnessed in this photo of a VB-8 SBD taken aboard USS Hornet during the battle. You can see the plane handlers wearing a mix, with six M1 and three Kelly helmets among them.

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There are plenty of details that the film makers got wrong, unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the costume advisors, but the Navy was using M1 helmets by June of 1942, as witnessed in this photo of a VB-8 SBD taken aboard USS Hornet during the battle. You can see the plane handlers wearing a mix, with six M1 and three Kelly helmets among them.

And no ‘meatballs’ in the center of the stars on that SBD during the battle, it’s good to see some proof.......

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I gave up long ago being critical of the details in war movies. I enjoyed the movie for what it was which is, a retelling of a critical period of our history. I recommend it to all.

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I'm looking forward to seeing it, hopefully this weekend. I don't expect too much from Hollywood when it comes to truth, they are usually anything but that. In this case however, it sounds like they got most of it right so that's good enough for me.

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