Entering November, the mainland cinema line is finally no longer so dull!
Since the first week of this month, there have been one or two new films and good movies worth looking forward to almost every week, including of course many Hollywood commercial blockbusters.
After the just-released "Terminator: Dark Fate", there will be another super blockbuster on November 8, that is, "Decisive Battle midway", which focuses on the theme of World War II.
This movie is the only Hollywood war blockbuster in November, and there is a big benefit for mainland audiences, that is, it is released simultaneously between China and the United States! Counting the jet lag, we have another chance to see the film ahead of North American audiences!
However, we initially paid attention to the film because of director Roland Emmerich.
The Hollywood director, who has shot successful commercial blockbusters such as "Independence Day", "Godzilla", "The Day After Tomorrow" and "2012", is habitually called "the master of disaster films". His films always focus on creating and presenting breathtaking visual effects wonders through special effects techniques:
"Independence Day" blew up the White House; in "Godzilla" giant lizards were released to make a big fuss in New York;
A global climate catastrophe was concocted in "The Day After Tomorrow", and in "2012" he even intended to erase the entire human civilization;
The destruction of cities, landslides, and various disaster scenes that break through the limits of imagination and creation can be said to be commonplace in his works.
Roland Emmerich can be said to be one of the most daring directors in Hollywood at the moment, and most of his films give people the greatest feeling in one word: cool.
So the popcorn index of these works is quite high, and the box office performance is often very prominent - so far, all the films he has directed have grossed more than $1.2 billion worldwide.
This time, the "indefatigable" Emmerich shifted his perspective from fictional sci-fi disaster themes to real history: the most important battle of the U.S. military during World War II, the Battle of Midway.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor. In just 90 minutes of attack, Japan sank four U.S. battleships and two destroyers, destroyed 188 aircraft, and killed 2,400 Americans. The raid marked the official declaration of war between Japan and the United States, and also opened the curtain on the Pacific War of World War II.
The battered U.S. Navy subsequently declassified secret Japanese intelligence and learned that the Japanese Navy's next target would be Midway Island in the middle of the Pacific. Midway has a very important strategic position, and once lost, the Japanese army will drive straight in, which is likely to pose a huge threat to the west coast of the United States mainland.
Therefore, after cracking the intelligence, the US military began to deploy strictly, waiting for this backwater battle that would determine the fate of the United States and even the whole world.
On June 4, the Battle of Midway was officially launched, and after three days of fighting, the U.S. Navy repelled the Japanese attack, not only gaining the initiative in the Pacific War, but also turning the overall tide of World War II.
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Back in the 1990s, Roland Emmerich was interested in this history while watching documentaries about the Battle of Midway. In his view, this is not only an epic and long history, there are countless incredible miracles in this great battle, but at the same time, it also condenses the precious spiritual outlook of that generation.
At that time, Emmerich handed over the project with a budget of up to 100 million to Sony Pictures, and John Kelly, who was the CEO of Sony Hollywood Studios at the time, forwarded the shooting plan to the Japanese headquarters, and received a rejection from the headquarters within three days.
As a result, the project was shelved, and the director turned to the creation of the American Civil War theme "The Patriot". "Battle of Midway" was shelved for more than 20 years, and it was only in recent years that Emmerich finally brought it back to light.
In the history of film, the history of the Battle of Midway has been adapted to the big screen many times. The most famous of these is The Battle of Midway, which was born in 1976 and brought together Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Toshiro Mifune, and Robert Mitchum.
After 40 years, Roland Emmerich's "Decisive Battle for Midway" is a new and all-round upgrade of that year's epic film.
In works such as Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012, Emmerich excels at using multi-line narratives, laying out clues through relatively minor supporting roles in addition to the main characters, and then showing the grand picture of the story from different perspectives and orientations.
"Battle of Midway" also uses a multi-line narrative, with the story line starring Ed Collins, Navy pilot Richard " Dick" Best leads out, focusing on the frontal battlefield of the Pacific Campaign, leading people to face the fierceness and cruelty of the battlefield. In addition to the main line, the camera also focuses on the rear perspective of the war, the various games and strategic deployments carried out by the intelligence agencies and combat headquarters of the US military against the Japanese army, as well as the concerns and concerns of the families of the soldiers.
This means that the film, like many of Emmerich's predecessors, still features an all-star cast: in addition to Ed Scrim, Woody Harrison, Dennis Quaid, Patrick Wilson, Luke Evans, Alan Eckhart, Nick Jonas, and Mandy Moore, among others, are some of the more familiar faces of Hollywood.
In addition to the "Counting Stars" lineup, the story's multi-line narrative also brings the biggest difference between "Decisive Midway" and hollywood war movies in recent years.
Whether it is "Hacksaw Ridge", "Dunkirk", or "Billy Lynn's Halftime War" and "Rage", these films seek a microscopic incision in the context of war, projecting the truth of war from the fate of individuals and echoing the circumstances of the times.
"Decisive Battle of Midway" depicts a magnificent group portrait, entering from a microscopic incision and weaving the overall picture of the war through different clues. Simply put, the film's perspective is more comprehensive, and the pattern is more ambitious.
This way of operation also tests the director's ability to balance the story: not only to show the panorama of history, but also to ensure the fun and resonance of the story, so as to avoid the film becoming an empty, alienated, and serious drama.
Roland Emmerich uses the classic "counterattack" routine at the plot level. The film begins with one of the most famous defeats in American history, pearl harbor. This attack was not only the worst defeat of the US military, but also the most serious mistake of the US intelligence department.
The Navy suffered heavy losses, the homeland was attacked, and five-star Admiral Chester William Nimitz was appointed commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. He then made a bold decision, resisting the pressure to choose the intelligence services that believed in major mistakes, and decided to carry out strategic deployment and military defense near Midway Island, waiting for the arrival of the enemy.
This is the background of the film's story, crouching in a huge failure, waiting for the moment of overturning.
The microscopic incision of the film comes from the pilot Dick, through his perspective, experiencing the sacrifice of close comrades, the heavy loss of morale of the army, and the continuous trial in the long stoicism until the final decisive battle.
In essence, "Decisive Midway" is still emmesively good at "cool films", and the tragic and spectacular war scenes are also a major highlight of the film. The smoke from the attack on Pearl Harbor and the scorched wreckage of the ship form a visual and emotional shock at the beginning. As the Pacific War became more intense, cameras were more focused on the fierce battle in the air above the ocean.
From the trailer, you can feel the fierceness and anxiety of this air battle, the US aircraft seek life in the airtight shells, the threat of aircraft carrier anti-aircraft guns in the front, and the exhaustive pursuit of enemy fighters in the back, and every flight makes people sweat for the pilots.
The director also uses a large number of subjective shots to create a realistic sense of presence, as if the audience under the screen is a pilot sitting on a fighter plane, waiting for the fierce artillery fire to advance.
The most exciting scene of the air battle appeared in the almost suicidal dive attack taken by the US military. In the early days when fighters were not yet equipped with precision launchers, the accuracy of dropping bombs depended heavily on the manual operation of pilots. The film also details the specific operation method:
The fighter shoots down to the limit, and the lower the dive altitude, the closer to the target, the higher the throwing hit rate, but it also means the greater the danger. After all, after releasing the bomb, the pilot used his flesh and blood to fight against the weight of the aircraft, allowing the aircraft to pull up at great speed, escaping the enemy's bullets, while avoiding being accidentally injured by the bombs he dropped.
In "Decisive Battle of Midway", Roland Emmerich repeated this tense and exciting surprise scene. In fact, he tried his best to fit the historical facts of any of the war scenes in the film.
In the same war scene, Emmerich and the screenwriter had to go through two or three different related books for comparison and reference to ensure that the scene at that time could be restored to the greatest extent and create the most realistic historical scene for people.
However, any war movie is not only about the magnificent and cruel war scenes and the thick and legendary history, but also the core of their essence is "people", exploring the great brilliance of human beings or the shackles of human nature. Although "Decisive Battle of Midway" restores and reproduces an important history, its greater significance may lie in the fact that people born and raised in a new generation can re-recognize the older generation of warriors who were born into death and fearless and selfless.
It is worth mentioning that the film does not blindly emphasize and highlight the dedication or sacrifice of World War II veterans, and even does not render too much when dealing with parting and death.
This stems from director Emmerich's understanding of the spirit of World War II veterans, who once said that what surprised him most when consulting historical sources was that the soldiers at that time did not care about their feats of facing the artillery fire and defeating the enemy: "Their generation, shrugging their shoulders, left everything behind, but in our current era, perhaps no one will do this again." 」 ”
"Battle of Midway" does not shy away from the fear, cowardice and reflection of human nature, but in comparison, the film's more important foothold is the celebration of heroism:
They should not just be hidden in the historical events of a vague number, but a hero worthy of being remembered by the times.