Midway Movie; Live-action from 1976 Versus CGI from 2019

Which would you rather watch?

Live-action or CGI, which works better to tell the story?

I’ve seen comments that are critical about the computer-generated imagery (CGI) in the trailers for the movie Midway, scheduled for release in Nov 2019. I agree that people won’t be fooled into thinking that the CGI in Midway (2019) is live-action but that’s not the point of a movie. Rather, the goal of every movie is to engage the viewer by conveying a story or theme. Viewers need to cut themselves from the reality of watching a movie and suspend disbelief. To encourage suspended disbelief, continuity and consistency are more important than mimicking live action.

There is a library of World War 2 color combat footage in the Pacific. Before the advent of CGI, that gave filmmakers a ready-made option for difficult or expensive scenes such as naval gun firing, explosions, and airplane crashes. The results of stitching together combat footage with movie footage often cause continuity problems.

Midway (1976) — What Type of Plane is Charlton Heston Flying Now?

Midway (1976) is full of inconsistencies with ships and aircraft. But the most jarring is a sequence where Charlton Heston leads a dive-bombing attack. Heston plays a fictional high ranking Naval aviator who volunteered for action…