There was a time in the early 2000s that the war movie turned into an action movie. Films like Valkyrie and Pearl Harbor delivered epic heroism. It wasn’t good or bad, it was just what was working at the time. That time passed, though, and now war films are leaning back towards introspective and art house (e.g. Dunkirk, Inglorious Basterds). It seems however that Roland Emmerich did not get the message or if he did does not care as this latest trailer for Midway shows.
I won’t lie, there’s something kind of refreshing about how blatantly old school this movie feels. It looks like it’s going to hit every damn cliche there is and then blow everything it can up. There doesn’t seem to be any subtle layer below this movie. It’s all heroism, all good looking people, all America. And really would you expect anything else from Emmerich? This is what the man does. He’s a slightly more artistic Michael Bay and he blows up the White House real good.
So you can roll your eyes at the fact that this film feels like it should have come out 15 years ago but if you expected more than you were only fooling yourself.
Midway release on November 8.
