The original Midway has a whole bunch of Coral Sea scenes, which make the story make sense. Even the rereleased DVD is missing those. I know about the full version because I saw it a couple of times on TCM, but without them, the story gets choppy.
Yes, it runs very long (about 3 hours) but if they cut the stupid romantic parts (Charlton Hestons son falls in love with a Japanese girl, and fights with his dad over it) they would save a lot of footage and really improve the film, actually.
Here is the Amazon listing. Look at the comments underneath with all the people complaining on how the collectors edition has been wrecked by leaving out half the history (Coral sea battles).
Have you noticed a young Tom Selleck in the movie? He plays the Midway garrison commander’s aide.