Midway
Lionsgate | Release Date: November 8, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
20
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenNov 6, 2019
The effects work rivals the likes of “Saving Private Ryan” and, well, “Independence Day.” It’s spectacular and realistic-looking. That’s to be expected. What’s not expected is how serious-minded and well-acted the picture is. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanNov 6, 2019
The film’s drama is B-movie basic. But the destructive colliding metal-on-metal inferno of what war is makes Midway a picture worth seeing. Read full review
67
Original-CinJim SlotekNov 7, 2019
On the sliding scale of war movies, Emmerich’s Midway is obviously no prestige film like The Hurt Locker or Saving Private Ryan. It belongs more to the school of the original Midway, with Tora! Tora! Tora! as its exemplar. Tell the story of a battle, offer up some sketched-out characters, played with aplomb, add a dash of soap opera and fire when ready. On that scale, for what it’s worth, Midway is a much more solid piece of entertainment than the Pearl Harbor directed by Emmerich’s fellow master-of-disaster Michael Bay. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovNov 6, 2019
Midway does a decent job of cramming in not only the eponymous three-day naval battle between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy but also treats the audience to a wealth of other, related Greatest Generation’s greatest hits. Read full review
65
IGNKristy PuchkoNov 6, 2019
I walked out wondering how a mini-series might have better served this historic moment and the men who made it. Still, with all its gaps and flaws, Midway is a serviceable ode to servicemen this Veteran's Day weekend. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanNov 6, 2019
In ways both large and small, Midway may be the most realistic war movie you’ve ever seen, as those involved in the production of this World War II action film, including Naval historians, have touted it to be. That’s not to say it’s as real as “Saving Private Ryan.” Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyNov 7, 2019
Midway will never be mistaken for a classic, and even box office success for the $100 independent production looks dicey. Stretches of the film work beautifully, though, and the sinking feeling for Japan’s forces is painted with sympathy, not schadenfreude. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranNov 7, 2019
Midway is so square, so old-school and old-fashioned, it almost feels avant-garde. Ambiguity is not its goal, nor is nihilism its motivating philosophy. It aims to celebrate heroism, sacrifice, determination and grit, and if you don’t like that it really does not care. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicWeldon B. JohnsonNov 6, 2019
While the movie doesn’t break new ground, it’s a story pretty well told. If you’re a fan of war epics of movies about flying, you’ll find something that holds your interest. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfNov 6, 2019
Steel battleships and raining fire are Midway’s primary colors; the movie flaunts its hugeness at every turn. You’ll never mistake it for the real thing, but Emmerich’s eye for historical detail is scary. Read full review
59
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiNov 6, 2019
Like many of Emmerich’s movies, even the better ones, Midway loses sight of the humanity inside its vast vistas of devastation. It’s a giant film with a very small impact. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comOdie HendersonNov 8, 2019
The overabundance of CGI is one of the bigger problems with Midway because, far too often, it feels like you’re watching a video game or an F/X highlight reel. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 7, 2019
This is a star-studded extravaganza light on character development and heavy on battle spectacle, resulting in an impressive-looking but dramatically underwhelming story. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleNov 6, 2019
From the beginning, Midway has awkward dialogue and an atmosphere that seems a bit too 2019, but for a time, the movie’s high stakes make up for that. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzNov 6, 2019
Midway is a choppy bore, its main source of intrigue centred around whatever New Jersey-ese accent British actor Ed Skrein is attempting as dive bomber Richard Best. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsNov 6, 2019
Midway isn’t bad, really. Certainly, it gets a lot more done than the cinematic cinder block that was the 1976 historical drama also titled “Midway.” Read full review
50
Slant MagazineKeith WatsonNov 6, 2019
In the film, the Battle of Midway suggests something out of a photorealistic animated film. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 6, 2019
“Not awful” is Emmerich’s victory, here. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyNov 6, 2019
A stolid film that largely rests on its director’s competence at helming extravagant aerial views of pyrotechnic destruction. Read full review
42
IndieWireDavid EhrlichNov 6, 2019
If the film’s story is steered by a hard-nosed focus on the large and small of what actually happened, the way Emmerich tells it feels more informed by WWII movies than it does by the war itself. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeNov 12, 2019
Every tired war movie cliche is unearthed in a film that brings nothing new but will no doubt please fans of men in uniform yelling at explosions. Read full review
40
Screen DailyTim GriersonNov 7, 2019
Wanting to honour history, Midway proves to be an oddly polite war film, afraid to be too exciting lest it interfere with the solemn tone. Read full review
40
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergNov 6, 2019
It is rousing and respectful in its best moments and faintly ridiculous in others. Read full review
40
EmpireIan FreerNov 6, 2019
Midway is a big, bold, brazen attempt to detail one of World War II’s most significant moments. But in a post Saving Private Ryan-Dunkirk landscape, it feels astonishing anyone is still making war movies like this. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeNov 6, 2019
Wes Tooke offers stiff dialogue and sometimes oddly structured action, leaving much dramatic potential unexploited. Yes, Emmerich stages plenty of aerial battles in which fighter pilots plunge through hailstorms of sizzling projectiles. But those hoping to get a thrill would be better served by revisiting his Earth-vs-aliens war flick Independence Day. Read full review
40
The GuardianCath ClarkeNov 6, 2019
Like watching a statue for two-and-a-half hours, there’s nothing to do but sit back and yawn. Read full review
30
Rolling StonePeter TraversNov 7, 2019
Emmerich can crack the whip on computer pixels like nobody’s business. But in sacrificing a reckoning on the human toll of war for cardboard characterization and showoff fx, he’s left an empty space where the soul of the film should be. Read full review
25
The Associated PressMark KennedyNov 7, 2019
The first thing director Roland Emmerich should do after his latest movie Midway hits theaters is apologize. Apologize to the visual effects crew, the stuntmen, the carpenters, the costumers and artists. He has squandered their considerable visual skill in retelling the crucial World War II battle at Midway by melding some of the best action sequences in years with the most banal of words. Read full review
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