Midway is new ground for Emmerich as this will be his first filmed set during WWII. The film depicts one of the most important battles in the Pacific Theater.
Roland Emmerich is directing a new World War II movie. The director previously helmed Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and 2012.
Midway is new ground for Emmerich as this will be his first filmed set during WWII. The film depicts one of the most important battles in the Pacific Theater.
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There’s no shortage of star power for Emmerich to harness in this film. Woody Harrelson, Luke Evans, Patrick Wilson, Dennis Quaid, Nick Jonas, Ed Skrein, and Aaron Eckhart are on board.
A new trailer was recently released for the film which has a November 8th release date. The trailer shows a great deal of action which should surprise no one who is familiar with Emmerich’s previous work.
Beginning with the attack on Pearl Harbor, the trailer shows how devastating that event was to the American forces. The US intelligence scrambles to find Japan’s next target after having missed the warning signs about Pearl Harbor. They find that the Midway Islands are next for the Japanese Imperial forces.
The Battle of Midway ended up being a big boost for the American’s confidence after the beating they took at Pearl Harbor. No one is concerned about Emmerich’s ability to deliver the action especially after films like Independence Day but the hope is that he can deliver the human dimension.
He wants to avoid the fate of another WWII film with plenty of action, Pearl Harbor. Michael Bay directed that film and received much criticism for how shallow it was.
The Battle of Midway was pivotal in WWII. The Japanese had hoped to end US control of the Pacific so that they could increase their territory in Asia and in the southwest Pacific islands. By controlling the Midway Islands, Japan could easily attack Pearl Harbor and force the US into negotiating peace.
The US had cracked the code that the Japanese was using for its messages so they knew that the Imperial Fleet was planning to attack somewhere in the Pacific that they had code named “AF”.
As part of a plan to determine where “AF” was located, the US base at Midway sent a message that they were low on fresh water.
When they intercepted a message from the Japanese stating that “AF” was low on fresh water, they knew that the attack would be on Midway. By the time the Japanese attacked on June 4, 1942, the US knew the date, location and order that the Japanese would be attacking.
The Japanese attacked that morning using four aircraft carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu. Airplanes from the carriers bombed the base at Midway and returned to their ships to refuel and reload. What they did not realize was that the US carriers were waiting just to the east of the island. While the Japanese planes returned to the carriers, the US attacked.
Three Japanese ships, Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu, were hit and had to be abandoned. The fourth, Hiryu, launched two waves of attacks, both targeting the USS Yorktown. The Yorktown was severely damaged but remained afloat. A scout plane eventually found the Hiryu and dive bombers from the USS Enterprise sank it.
Over the course of the next two days, the US attacked the Japanese and forced them to retreat. The Japanese lost 3,057 men, four carriers, and hundreds of aircraft. The US lost around 360 men, one carrier, one destroyer and 144 airplanes.
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Rather than pushing the US out of the Pacific and conquering more territory for Japan, the Battle of Midway stopped Japanese expansion in the Pacific and set the stage for eventual US domination in the Pacific theater.
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