Whenever Roland Emmerich ventures outside of his wheelhouse, the results have tended to be mixed at best. Shakespearean conspiracy thriller Anonymous and coming-of-age drama Stonewall didn’t make much of an impression, but even his pyrotechnic extravaganzas have often left a lot to be desired.
For every Independence Day, 2012 or The Day After Tomorrow there’s a Godzilla, 10,000 BC or White House Down, but we’re all hoping that next year’s Moonfall is a lot closer to falling into the former camp than the latter. Emmerich’s last effort was a $100 million war epic packed to the brim with visual effects, and yet Midway largely sank without a trace.
Unfairly lambasted in some quarters as ‘Emmerich does Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor‘, although the similarities are there for all to see, the historical actioner unfolds through the eyes of those fighting on the front lines during the titular battle, with a typically eclectic cast assembled to bring more than two dozen sizeable roles to life.
A 42% Rotten Tomatoes score isn’t unusual for a Roland Emmerich blockbuster, but a box office haul of just $126 million certainly is. Despite largely being lost to the sands of time already, Midway is rebounding on streaming in a big way, having shot up the Netflix rankings over the last few days to set its sights on the Top 20, as per FlixPatrol.
