Apparently Roland Emmerich had trouble getting the film financed and went to some of his Hollywood buddies for funds. Midway's budget came completely from this and equity making it the most expensive independent film ever produced. This makes me want to recommend the film even more, as the director was clearly passionate about it.
To elaborate on some of what I said in the video, the whole sequence portraying the Doolittle raid feels a bit tacked on as none of the films central characters were directly involved in it. It is a well done and pretty historically accurate tangent nonetheless. Incidentally, the famous airmen is portrayed by Aaron Eckhart, one of two actors in this film to take on a role previously portrayed by Spencer Tracy, the other being Dennis Quaid, who plays Admiral Halsey. Tracy played Doolittle in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo and Halsey in Tora! Tora! Tora! The latter film is certainly a model for this one and is also, along with The Longest Day, the benchmark for for big battle movies. While this film certainly doesn't live up to either of those it's still quite good in it's own right and I would definitely recommend it, especially for fans of old-school Hollywood war films.
Score: 8/10
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