Windtalkers

Rating:
Summary: more imperialist US propaganda
Review: If you think the US is the best country on Earth, is "the home of the free and the land of the brave" and all that [stuff], you'll love this 2 hours of propaganda.

"Yes, the US should defeat the evil Japanase (and Germans) so *WE* can control the world. And to prove how honorable we are, we'll even let our Indians help us, whom we've been massacreing, cheating, and discriminating against for five hundred years."

After this film, your next neo-fascist imperial-America homework is to watch "Bad Company", "Black Hawk Down", "Sum of All Fears", and Brad Pitt's recent "Spy Game."

Rating:
Summary: In Praise Of The Unsung Heroes Of WWII.
Review: Legendary Hong Kong action auteur John Woo re-teams with Nicholas Cage (Face/Off) and Christian Slater (Broken Arrow) to tell the story of World War II's unsung heroes: The Navajo "Code-Talkers", who used their native tongue as a code that proved to be unbreakable to the Japanese Army.

Adam Beach stars as Ben Yahzee, a codetalker teamed with Cage, ostensibly for his own protection. The reality is, Cage has orders to kill him if it looks like he might fall into enemy hands. Beach does a great job as Yahzee, often blowing the sometimes over-the-top Cage away. (Despite his crazed theatrics, Cage is also good in the role of Joe Enders, Yahzee's "Protector", who often seems like a killing machine.) Woo makes the battle scenes come alive vividly; I haven't ever seen such a visceral portrayal of front-line battle, except for Saving Private Ryan. There are also some really nice moments between Christian Slater and his partner, Whitehorse. The violence is, at times, stomach-churning, but that's certainly justified, considering the subject matter.

I fully expect Adam Beach to go on to great things as a result of this movie, and hopefully this will make more people aware of the Native American contribution to the freedom we all enjoy today. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking movie, with some annoying flaws
Review: Although overall I loved this film, I do have to agree with the reviewer who said the Cage and Slater characters were not nearly developed enough. What we do know is fascinating, but I was left wanting much more. That said, this film did indeed take my breath away a few times, in battle scenes and in quiet dialogue. Adam Beach is mesmerizing. I'd never seen him before and was so taken with him I hated when the camera left his face. I'm not saying this in a "oh he's so gorgeous" way; his face just pulls you in to watch its every nuance, kind of like Russell Crowe at his best.
Nicolas Cage is stellar, as usual, and Christian Slater is terribly underused. What a perfect actor he is for the part. The actor who plays Whitehorse (forgive me, I've forgotten his name) engages the audience so well (mostly because he's given such good script) that we can't help but worry about his welfare.

The most annoying and glaring flaw in the movie is some horribly heavy-handed foreshadowing ("if anything should happen to me...make sure my wife gets this...") I could almost hear the eyes rolling in the audience. This must be *the* most cliche line in war film history, and it is baffling that in such a good movie, this could manage to make its way up off of the cutting room floor like a cartoon snake and back onto the reel. Whoever wrote this part probably goes to parties and asks people what their astrological signs are.
I do highly recommend this movie, flaws and all.

Rating:
Summary: This is the war film John Wayne would have made today! FUN!
Review: I saw Windtalkers today and I must say I loved it! It was a total popcorn flick. While very unrealistic at times it was very entertaining. Unlike Black Hawk Down, which I think is the best war movie ever made, this film is more like an old fashioned Rambo type action flick were one man (Cage mostly) can take out many with a single weapon. It doesn't try to be as realistic as the other war films we've seen of late (which is getting a bit redundant), this film instead tries to be an action film! I mean, after all, it is directed by the legendary John Woo (Hard Boiled; Face/Off). I think Woo must have learned what he knew of WWII from old war films which is great because it pays off for a fun time at the movies here! Christian Slater is great in this comeback role (looking forward to the upcoming BOUNTY KILLER, hope it's still in production) as is the main Navajo soldier, Adam Beach. Beach is very likable and I don't think that he should be typecast as an Indian in the future. Let's not worry about his ethnicity and cast him in VAN HELSING instead of Hugh Jackman or in THE GREAT RAID instead of Benjamin Bratt or in anything that Paul Walker or Chris Klein get cast in instead of casting them (Beach in ROLLERBALL would have at least helped a little right?) Why not? It's Nicholas Cage's performance that sometimes falls flat. If John Wayne were alive today we could have placed him into Cage's role and he would have fit like a glove. This IS the type of film that John Wayne made only it's a bit bloodier with better special effects (minus one battleship scene)! Wayne would have eaten this thing up! Don't listen to what many of the critics are saying about this film, after all what do they know? Critics don't know how to have a good time at the movies. I recommend anyone who is a fan of WOO, action films, war movies, Indian's, or Christian Slater to go and check out Windtalkers! I think I might even go and see it again today! It's A GREAT FUN OLD TIME at the movies! What else do you want in a summer ACTION flick?

P.S. John Woo, why not cast Christian Slater as the Irish immigrant in THE DIVIDE (MEN OF DESTINY) instead of Nicolas Cage? Sure, Cage won an Oscar but that was a long time ago.

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Rating:
Summary: "Wind Talkers" is much more than just another war movie!
Review: "Wind Talkers" is the latest war movie to hit the market. Appropriately, it opened nationwide on Flag Day. While the premise of the movie is about the Navajo code talkers, the movie is much more. It is not just about the unbreakable code that the Native American soldiers spoke, aiding the big guns to do their jobs in helping save soldiers lives. The story is one that needed to be told decades ago - but better late than never.

The movie is graphic, though not quite on the same scale as "Saving Private Ryan." The plots are similar but "Wind Talkers" evolves relationships better than "Saving Private Ryan" did. In this particular story, 2 sergeants are responsible for the safety of their assigned code speakers and must protect them at all costs - and kill them if capture is imminent so that the code cannot be broken. I'll not give away the details of the movie but I'll let you know while some of it is predictable, it's not exactly who and what you think.

I appreciate that there were no gratuitous love affairs to detract from the movie as was present in "Pearl Harbor." While the graphic presentation of the harsh realities of war aren't as intense as others (Saving Private Ryan), the story line and character development blow it out of the water. I don't appreciate some of the hand-to-hand combat as it seemed a bit unrealistic and over the edge, which is too bad because a lot of the bullets flying and bombs exploding were realistic in the film. This stops me from rating a full five stars. However, as I stated earlier, it is not what makes this movie.

The story contains racism, religious issues, moral and ethical decision-making, duty and other elements. However, it transcends and develops into much more that help erase racial lines and helps evolve morals and ethics into something higher that involves deep compassion and true honor.

All of the characters were cast splendidly. My favorite actor happened to be Adam Beach, who plays the main Navajo character. He's my favorite Native American actor (Smoke Signals and others) and this movie helps establish him even more than before. What surprised me most was that I actually liked Nicholas Cage. I normally do not like his roles in movies and had a sour taste about him. However, he restores himself in my opinion in his role. Beautifully done! John Woo has done an excellent job putting this flick together and is probably among his best works.

Do I recommend "Wind Talkers"? Absolutely! Please don't take young children to the movie! It's not the greatest flick I've ever seen but I feel it belongs in the top 40 and that says a lot considering the long history of Hollywood.

Rating:
Summary: Pacific War is Finally Done Justice
Review: In the 1990's Hollywood was tightly focused on t European theatre of WWII. The only big screen vision of the Pacific War was Terrance Malick's dull, sanitized film The Thin Red Line.

At long last, John Woo brings us a truly horrific vision of WWII in the Pacific. He pulls no punches in bringing it's savagery to life. One of the film's lingering, horrifying images include a soldier beheaded by a Japanese soldier. Those of us who read our history know that such things are no hollywood invention. They were (for the men who fought the Japanese) a reality.

Interestingly, Woo gives us what no other war film in the last decade has: a close examination of the choices these men had to make while under fire.

I've already read reviews that point out how this film falls short of Saving Private Ryan. What I don't understand is why every war movie thereafter has been compared to Speilberg's film.
This is an entirely different approach to war movie making that works very well, and will hopefully preseve the memory of those who fought in the Pacific Theatre of the war.

Rating:
Summary: bullets flying, bodies flying. yes, it's a John Woo film
Review: Windtalkers is the story of two American soldiers (one played by Christian Slater, the other played by Nic Cage) who are assigned to protect two Navajo soldiers who work as windtalkers, transmitting messages past Japanese codebreakers using their code based on Navajo language.

Yes, there's a lot of violence. Yes, it's grim. The bodyguards, Cage and Slater, are instructed to kill the windtalkers rather than let them fall into enemy hands.

This is a big war movie, not quite on the scale of Saving Private Ryan, but somewhere between something that grand and magnificent and, say, Behind Enemy Lines. Cage and Slater do a good job with their parts, which aren't very fully fleshed out characters.

Woo's direction used to be so over-the-top and artsy... the fight scenes used to be like cartoons, with bad guy and good guy blazing away at each other with two pistols... the most violent scenes were often preceded by or accompanying flocks of birds taking to flight, and bullet-riddled bodies always seem to pirouet in slow motion before they fall down dead. Woo has left a lot of the old personal director's style out of this one, actually. There ARE a lot of bullets, and a lot of the fighting scenes are very unrealistic (true to old Woo there), and there is one scene very reminiscent of old John Woo, where a butterfly floats gracefully above a river then suddenly a bloody body falls into that river, destroying the gorgeous image, juxtaposing a graceful natural image with a gory violent one, etc.

ANYWAY, mostly this is a shoot 'em up war movie, and the old John Woo style is MOSTLY absent.

The story has that one feature going for it, the protection of the Navajo codetalkers, but otherwise it's a very standard war movie, in terms of plot. Still, this movie comes off surprisingly well.

If you're a fan of the American John Woo movies, like Broken Arrow, or Mission Impossible II or Face/Off, or you liked some movies recently like Black Hawk Down or Behind Enemy Lines, you ought to take a look at Windtalkers. It's not the best war movie of the last few years (I'd vote for Saving Private Ryan for that), or the best action movie, but it is entertaining and memorable...

Rating:
Summary: When a Trailer Thrills You More Than the Film You're Seeing
Review: you know that you may have the potential for a great couple of hours at the movies. Let me start out by saying that I have not yet had the privelage to screen Windtalkers but I have seen several theatrical trailers and TV spots and I have to say that I am very impressed on those alone. When I went to see "We Were Soldiers" which I thought was fairly good, there was a trailer for this film before the feature. The trailer was so interesting that I decided to see "We Were Soldiers" again partly just to see the trailer.

John Woo has become a great director on two continents. He is experienced with action sequences and now has become very skilled at making plots that are fun to watch as well as easy to follow. Those are the two things war films are about. John Woo should do an Oscar worthy job in this film which certainly looks to be his best American work ever.

The casting also seems impressive from what I can tell. Ever choice for each role looks to be one worthy of what might be John Woo's best efforts.

After being delayed due to the tragic events of September 11th in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvaina (and rightyfully so) a new sense of anixousness for the release of Windtalkers as surfaced. From what I can tell, this movie may take "Saving Private Ryan"'s title has the best war picture ever. We will just have to wait and see if I am right June 14th of this year.

Rating:
Summary: Another War Movie????
Review: man, another War Movie??? what's going on.. But I'll tell you I don't care for War Movies but I'm willing to give this a shot because John Woo directs it.

But John woo really lost his Hardcore Touch. After Hard Boiled, his movies are not as great or soo hard core!! His american movies are too restricted, yuck!!

Come on John pull out those double handed gun action movies like the good old days!!!

Rating:
Summary: 6 months of hard work...
Review: This movie is the bomb, and I can't wait to see it in the theatres, but what counts most for me is gonna be the collector's edition DVD with the "Making of..." which will show how much hard work we had to go through to make this movie a blockbuster. Boot camp in the marine base in Hawaii, running through explosions and walls of fire in the Ka'a'awa Valley and the very cold days (with snow sometimes) of winter in Cold Water Canyon in California and Point Mugu Naval Station. Watch for this movie guys, we didn't go for your average war movie, some of the shots are just incredible (like the elicopter shots filmed in Hawaii).

One of the marines core group