By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
With its theatrical release well-timed for Veterans Day weekend, Roland Emmerich’s “Midway” recalls a pivotal World War II battle in the South Pacific.
Historians cite the Battle of Midway as the most effective naval warfare operation, debilitating the Imperial Japanese Navy just six months after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor left the U.S. fleet in ruins.
In a prewar Tokyo preamble, U.S. Attaché to Japan Lt. Commander Edwin T. Layton (Patrick Wilson) develops a premonition of conflict after meeting with Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (Etsushi Toyoawa). After the devastation of Pearl Harbor, the big brass, particularly Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (Woody Harrelson), comes to rely on military strategist Layton’s instinct for Intelligence.
There’s Lt. Col. James Doolittle’s (Aaron Eckart) daring airstrike on Tokyo weeks later, followed by his crash-landing in Japanese-occupied Chinese territory and rescue by Chiang Kai-shek’s loyal rebels. But the Americans were unsure where to go next.
After intercepting radio message and partially ‘cracking’ the Japanese code, Layton and his cohorts are convinced that Midway Atoll will be next, which involves strategically moving the few remaining aircraft carriers and destroyers to the right positions.
That introduces hotshot bomber pilot Lt. Richard “Dick” Best (Ed Skrein), along with gutsy Italian American aviation mechanic Bruno Gaido (Nick Jonas), along with Admiral William “Bull” Halsey (Dennis Quaid) and Air Group Commander Wade McClusky (Luke Evans).
Best known for “Independence Day” and “The Day After Tomorrow,” Roland Emmerich even includes a little-known ‘inside’ glimpse of intrepid American director John Ford (Geoffrey Blake) and his terrified cameraman filming actual Midway footage for Frank Capra’s “Why We Fight” series of propaganda films.
While the tense aerial dogfights and bombing raids look superb, it’s too bad that Wes Tooke’s screenplay lacks any shred of originality, relying on superficial characters and conventional clichés.
Unfortunately, Emmerich’s version lacks the star-power of 1976’s “Midway” with Henry Fonda, Charlton Heston, Glenn Ford, Robert Mitchum, Robert Wagner, James Coburn, Hal Holbrook and Toshiro Mifune.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Midway” is an archaic 6, perhaps better suited to the History Channel.
New Zealand-born Taika Waititi certainly isn’t the first filmmaker to mock Nazi Germany. Charlie Chaplin ridiculed Hitler in “The Great Dictator,” Mel Books lampooned him with “Springtime for Hitler,” as did Roberto Benigni in “Life Is Beautiful” and Quentin Tarantino in “Inglorious Basterds.”
But in “Jojo Rabbit,” Taika Waititi’s approach is unique.
Set in the fictional town of Falkenheim in Germany during the closing months of World War II, he focuses on plucky 10-year-old Johannes Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis), who is “massively into swastikas” and besotted with his imaginary friend, buffoonish Adolf Hitler (Waititi).
An avid member of Jungvolk of the Hitler Youth, Jojo eagerly heads off for training camp, only to be publicly humiliated by Capt. Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell) and book-burning Fraulein Rahm (Rebel Wilson) for not wringing the neck of a tiny rabbit.
Then, one day, Jojo discovers that his mother, Rosie (Scarlett Johansson), has been secretly harboring Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie), a frightened Jewish teenager, behind a wall in their home. Stunned that she doesn’t have horns, a forked tongue and a tail, he quizzes Elsa about Jews.
“We’re like you, but human,” Elsa explains, adding, “You’re not a Nazi, Jojo. You’re a 10-year-old boy who likes dressing up in a funny uniform.”
Jojo is caught in a moral conundrum. If he turns in Elsa, he’s betraying his mother. If he doesn’t, he’s betraying his friend Adolf. And the film chronicles his gradual realization that everything he believes to be true about the Fatherland is a monstrous lie.
As delusional Jojo, Roman Griffin Davis is nothing short of amazing, along with Archie Yates as his best friend.
Loosely based on Christine Leunens’ novel “Caging Skies,” Waititi’s timely satire veers from playful parody to real-life terror, boldly treading the thin line between fantasy and drama.
FYI: On this father’s side, Taika Waititi is Maori, the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand; on his mother’s side, he’s Russian-Jewish.
On the Granger Gauge, “Jojo Rabbit” is an intriguing, edgy 8, reminding younger generations what happened more than 70 years ago.
Netflix ventures into historical drama with David Michod and Joel Edgerton’s “The King,” a loose amalgam of Shakespeare’s “Henry IV” and “Henry V,” although the name of the Bard isn’t included in the credits.
Set in the early 15th century, Timothee Chalamet stars as pallid Prince Hal, the hedonistic, firstborn son of Henry IV (Ben Mendelsohn), who returns home as his father is dying only to discover that he’s considered such a “whoring fool” that his ambitious younger brother Thomas (Dean-Charles Chapman) will inherit the throne.
As fate would have it, Thomas subsequently dies in Wales, leaving Hal — reluctantly crowned Henry V — to decide whether to continue fighting the French in unnecessary wars: “A new chapter of my life has begun … As Prince, I spent my days drinking, clowning. Now, I find myself King.”
At Hal’s side is his battle-hardened buddy, Sir John Falstaff. (Joel Edgerton), who soon becomes the Warrior King’s most trusted confidante.
Eventually, Hal’s troops confront the French, led by snide Dauphin Louis (Robert Pattinson), the foppish, flamboyant son of King Charles VI, at a muddy bloodbath known as the Battle of Agincourt.
Although the 5,000-9,000 British were outnumbered by 12,000-30,000 French, Henry V’s army possessed a new weapon: the longbow. When the French cavalry attacked the English archers, they encountered a sea of sharpened wooden stakes and were cut down by arrows.
After that victory, Henry V captured Caen, Normandy and Rouen until Charles VI surrendered. On May 21, 1420, they signed the Treaty of Troyes, disinheriting the Dauphin, naming Henry as France’s Regent and bestowing Charles’ daughter as Henry’s bride.
King Henry V’s nine-year reign ended with his death from dysentery in 1422.
Stripped of Shakespeare’s poetic iambic pentameter and medieval perspective, it’s a ponderously paced coming-of-age saga with little effort devoted to character development. Indeed, the screen only seems to spark upon the arrival of the combative French Princess Catherine (Lily-Rose Depp).
Available for streaming, on the Granger Gauge, “The King” is a gloomy, generic 5 — about waging endless war.
(Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
