John E

I loved this movie. In reading the reviews prior to seeing the film, I was prepared to not like it. My conclusion after seeing the film is that most of the reviewers have no personal experience with either the military culture or with any veterans from WWII. This film perfectly captured the military and particularly the brown shoe Navy culture. The CGI was great and accurate. As a pilot I found myself flying the airplane in some of the scenes. I was born in 1942 and have some childhood memories of the vets coming home and telling their stories. Today I lead a WWII veteran project and thought this film did a near perfect job of depicting the stories and memories I hear from the vets I talk to. I think my perspective is broadly shared by those of my generation who have seen the film. A large part of the audience when I saw the film were also of my generation or old enough to be WWII vets... and they were all moved. My son, who just retired after 25 years of service in the Navy was the one who recommended the film to me. Woody Harrelson was great as ADM Nimitz. Don't let the negative reviews keep you from seeing this film.

We are a Navy family and my son was the commanding officer of a DDG. I had 17 years as a liaison officer with the Naval Academy. I thought the movie did a great job of capturing the operational life aboard. The tempo, the constant challenges, the pressure, etc. My only minor criticism was that I thought the sailors we a couple of years older than I would have expected. My family members who fought in WWII were just 18 when they deployed.