--- title: "‘Midway’ looks like it’s everything ‘Pearl Harbor’ was supposed to be" description: "Remember the collective crushing disappointment we all felt as we got settled in to watch *Pearl Harbor* in 2001, expecting a *Saving Private Ryan-*level war movie on a grander scale and suddenly realizing it was a love story and that…" date: "2020-04-29" modified: "2020-10-30" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-culture/midway-movie/" categories: - "Entertainment" - "History" - "Movies and TV" - "War History" - "World War II" --- # ‘Midway’ looks like it’s everything ‘Pearl Harbor’ was supposed to be ![]() Remember the collective crushing disappointment we all felt as we got settled in to watch *Pearl Harbor* in 2001, expecting a *Saving Private Ryan-*level war movie on a grander scale and suddenly realizing it was a love story and that the attack on Pearl Harbor was actually just part of the backstory? The bad news is that *Pearl Harbor* is still on television. The good news is that the director of *Independence Day* just made a movie about the World War II Battle of Midway. And he even remade the attack on Pearl Harbor to get started. --- ![]() All this and Woody Harrelson as Chester Nimitz? I'm interested. This still is from Planet of the Apes, but we all wish Nimitz shaved his head like this before combat. I do, anyway. For the uninitiated, the Battle of Midway may have well been the turning point in the Pacific War of World War II. While the Doolittle Raid featured in *Pearl Harbor* showed American resolve and boosted morale, it did little to really hurt the Japanese in the Pacific (the Doolittle Raid appears to be in the *Midway* movie as well). Two months later in 1942, the U.S. Navy struck a decisive blow, delivering a devastating punch to the face of the Japanese Empire at the height of its power – just six months after the U.S. Navy was supposed to be knocked out of the war at Pearl Harbor. The Americans had a complete intelligence advantage at Midway, having broken the Japanese radio codes and determining they were on their way to attack an island code-named "AF." In order to figure out what objective "AF" was, American intelligence sent an uncoded message that the water purification system on Midway was down, they heard Japanese radio operators reporting objective "AF" was low on water. The target was Midway, and the Navy laid a trap for the oncoming Japanese fleet. The United States ended up with the Japanese objective, the days the Japanese fleet would arrive, and the entire Japanese order of battle. What's more, the Japanese were unaware of the Americans' positions or that the Navy had broken their codes, so the Japanese Navy took the further steps of so dividing their forces into four subgroups, that they were unable to support each other. This might have been a great tactic in a surprise, but not so much when the Americans knew exactly where every ship would be and when they would be there. The result was, not surprisingly, a complete rout that could only be described as a major ass-kicking. Japanese forces took massive losses. The Imperial Japanese Navy lost ten times the number of men, along with four aircraft carriers it could not replace, two heavy cruisers, and almost 250 aircraft. The Americans lost just 307 men, 150 planes, the carrier *USS Yorktown* and the destroyer *USS Hammann*. Not bad for the first American victory in the Pacific. ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()