Moderators: wdolson, MOD_War-in-the-Pacific-Admirals-Edition
...TMTSNBN
ORIGINAL: HansBolter
ORIGINAL: jagsdomain
It had nothing to do with Ben it had to do with a modern CV battle group as the IJN.
It was the plot of us pilot gets transferred to RAF shot down over England picked up by the French underground then transfers to Pearl. After attack he volunteers with Doolittle for his raid.
Yea it was badORIGINAL: geofflambert
Is it OK to say never go to a movie with Ben Affleck in it?
Never underestimate just how crazy a real story can be.
How about a guy who realizes his career is going nowhere just before we get into the war, leaves the Navy to join the American Volunteer Group, runs up a score building a solid reputation, comes home and gets sidelined by an officer with a grudge over his having left in the first place, bypasses the turd, gets back into the war, gets sent to the south Pacific, cobbles together his own squadron from spare planes, runs up a score, builds a reputation becoming a top ace, eventually gets shot down near Rabaul and and finishes the war in POW camp?
Sorry ... but I just found this funny. Battle of Midway ... no spoilers.ORIGINAL: jagsdomain
No spoilers!
ORIGINAL: Ddog
It is funny they portray the director John Ford as being at Midway, because he is quoted as saying "Never let the facts stand in the way of a good movie." The movie was not good and borderline factual.
It was actually factual in the some of the events. But things like no fighter squadrons on the American CV's really ruined it for me. The dialog is laughable at some points. If you like TMTSNBN then you will like this movie.
In summary, if the "how" matters to you, then you won't like it. For instance, in the movie, Pearl Harbor is attacked and the Arizona is sunk. But these things were not done as they truly were in history. If you are going to see a shoot em up like Independence Day, you'll enjoy the movie.
My comment about the torpedo skidding across the deck was "See, there's the evidence that the torpedoes don't work!" (meaning it should have gone off).ORIGINAL: Big B
As a follow up, I thought the cast was good, and looking up the characters (the military ones - not the few wives) I see no big inaccuracies in the portrayals, for instance John Ford was indeed lightly wounded during the Midway Island attack, Intelligence Office E. Layton was indeed fluent in Japanese and met with Admiral Yamamoto several times before the war while spending three years posted in Japan, It showed the two unfortunate naval airmen picked up by a Japanese DD and executed by being tossed overboard. Probably The principal character was Dick Best - who appears to be one of only two dive bomber pilots in history to planted bombs on two different enemy carriers in a single day.
Furthermore, 10 years ago I was in regular correspondence with a living member of Torpedo 6, and he related to me that on the evening of Dec 7th the TBD's of Torpedo 6 were sent out armed with torpedoes and after a flight of 550 miles came back aboard Enterprise still carrying their fish, when one torpedo came loose on landing and went careening across the flight deck...ONE man managed to wrestle it to a stop - just as portrayed in the movie.
So yeah, if you can get past the over-the-top pace of action in several sequences - a pretty good movie (except the Lexington was not a Yorktown class carrier...dumb mistake when it's all cgi).
B
ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
My comment about the torpedo skidding across the deck was "See, there's the evidence that the torpedoes don't work!" (meaning it should have gone off).ORIGINAL: Big B
...
Furthermore, 10 years ago I was in regular correspondence with a living member of Torpedo 6, and he related to me that on the evening of Dec 7th the TBD's of Torpedo 6 were sent out armed with torpedoes and after a flight of 550 miles came back aboard Enterprise still carrying their fish, when one torpedo came loose on landing and went careening across the flight deck...ONE man managed to wrestle it to a stop - just as portrayed in the movie.
B
Torpedoes armed themselves after traveling a short distance so they couldn't accidentally go off.
RL storys are crazy but that movie and the idea that this guy went from fighters to bomber.
IIRC, Best was a fighter jockey who went to bombers.
ORIGINAL: GaryChildress
I guess the main thing that puts me off with the trailers is that they also seem to paint the picture that the movie is mostly centered around a single character, in this case, Richard Best. He's definitely one of the great heroes of the battle but I'd rather see it approached along the lines of A Bridge Too Far or Battle of Britain where there is largely no central character but rather we get a sense of how huge the endeavor was with multiple characters, each portraying one of the MANY heroes of the battle. Also wouldn't mind seeing at least a couple leads on the Japanese side of things.
But I suppose it's good for an evening with popcorn and a drink.
