Midway ★★★

MY HOPES weren’t high for Midway.

The critics had largely rounded on the film and it had bombed (no pun intended) at the American box office.

But, while the script struggles to create fully-rounded characters and the computer graphics are wildly uneven, as a history lesson it achieves the desired result of paying tribute to the manner in which the United States recovered from Pearl Harbour by highlighting the efforts of some real-life individuals.

German-born director Roland Emmerich’s taste in projects is usually far less grounded in reality (2012, The Day After Tomorrow, 1998’s Godzilla and the original Independence Day) but he did tackle an American Civil War story with The Patriot in 2000.

For this $100 million plus exercise, written by first-timer Wes Tooke, I suspect Emmerich was brought in as a no-nonsense journeyman who would simply get the job done on time and within budget.

The film is not just about the Battle of Midway fought between the US and Imperial Japanese naval and air forces in the Pacific in June, 1942.

To put the battle into the full context it begins in Kyoto in 1937 and a discussion between American Naval attache Edwin Layton and a high-ranking Japanese officer who carefully warns that his country is slowly changing and may not see America as a firend for much longer.

On his return to the States, Layton continues to monitor the slow rise behind-the-scenes of Japanese imperialism, further heightened by the rise of Nazism and start of World War II in Europe in 1939.

But his warnings over several years are largely ignored, culminating in the surprise bombing of the US naval fleet at Pearl Harbour in 1941.

Determined to retaliate as quickly as possible and make up for what is described as “the greatest failing of military intelligence in history”, the generals put their faith in Layton and a group of eccentric code-breakers.

While moving in and out of Layton’s story the film also focuses on a range of real-life figures whose individual efforts helped turn the tide of war.

But the script doesn’t have the power to make them rise above the level of caricatures, despite the strong cast that includes Ed Skrein as daredevil pilot Dick Best, Patrick Wilson as Layton, Woody Harrelson as Admiral Nimitz, Luke Evans as Wade McClusky, Dennis Quaid as William ‘Bull’ Halsey and Aaron Eckhart as Jimmy Doolittle

Much has been made of the over-use of computer graphics in the film’s battle scenes and, while the close work is very uneven and sometimes poor, the wider and overhead shots and the aerial dogfights are quite impressive.

Ultimately, the film tells its important story with energy and enthusiasm and, I gather, historical accuracy.

It’s no Dunkirk, but it’s no Pearl Harbour either.