I just got home from seeing Midway.
I do not claim to be a professional historian, but from what I remember of the various books I've read on the subject, I'd say the filmmakers did a good job. First time I recall seeing any part of the Battle of the Coral Sea ever depicted on screen. It covered all the bases accurately enough for my tastes. There was not as much focus on the long-rang scout planes (the big Consolidated PBY Catalina) featured in the original movie, although they do mention these reconn missions. And while we do get a good look at Dick Best's family, it was not a focus - and there is no completely fictional hotshot pilot wanting to bang a Japanese-American gal.
I thought the visuals were well done. Yes, there were inaccuracies. Quite a few, actually, but nothing that made me want to take a crap on the movie. As a life-long warbird nut who has built a bunch of scale models of WWII planes, I thought they nailed the aircraft on both sides of this battle. The A6M Zeros were the right variant (A6M2), and the SBD Dauntless dive bombers looked right (as opposed to the first poster I ever saw for this movie, which gave me concern for the movie's accuracy in depicting a Dauntless with a four-bladed prop and forward-firing wing-mounted machine guns). The G3M Nell bombers were accurately depicted launching from an airstrip in the Marshall Islands, but not during the actual Battle of Midway. And it even showed the flight of US Army B-26 Marauder bombers attacking the Jap fleet (although it didn't show the one B-26 that flew right down the length of the Akagi's (I think) flight deck). Curiously, now that I am sitting here at home, I don't recall seeing any F4F Wildcats, as the movie didn't depict any of the US fighter activity; it focused only on the dive bombing squadrons and both Torpedo Squadron 6 and 8.
I liked the casting of Woody Harrelson as Admiral Nimitz when I didn't think I would. He played the part well, and even bore a slight resemblance to the actual Nimitz. And Dennis Quaid as Bull Halsey was good casting as well.
Both versions of Midway have told the general story right, with this one being perhaps a bit more accurate. Where this one wins hands-down is the accuracy in its depiction of aircraft, as the original movie relied too heavily on archival footage that more times than not was completely wrong for June 1942. But the original has a musical score that blows this one out of the water.
