Windtalkers

Rating:
Summary: Cage + Woo = Explosive Combo
Review: John Woo goes to war in "Windtalkers," a movie based on a fascinating footnote to World War II. During the combat in the Pacific, the Marines used Navaho "code talkers," who confounded the Japanese by relaying information in their native language, a complex spoken tongue with which few outsiders were familiar. The device proved so successful that the military kept it a secret until the late 1960s, in case they ever needed to use it again.

In the movie, Nicolas Cage plays Joe Enders, a Marine sergeant shattered by the loss of his entire squad in combat. Assigned to "baby-sit" (his words) Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach), a newly recruited Navaho code talker, he's told to protect the code at any cost. Translation: Should Ben fall into enemy hands, Joe is to kill him.

Unlike another Marine bodyguard, played by Christian Slater, who befriends his charge (Roger Willie), Joe chooses to distance himself from Ben. That way it will be easier to follow orders. Yet it was following orders that caused the massacre of his men. Showing his medal to Ben, Joe says ruefully, "I got this for not dying. The 15 men with me got it for dying."

Woo is clearly interested in this story. Joe's inner conflicts are compelling; so is the changeable nature of his relationship with Ben. One minute, he's trying to avoid sitting with him during a lunch break; the next, he's pulling Ben out of enemy fire.

Yet Woo, a legendary director of hyperbolic action films (more than a dozen in Hong Kong; "Face/Off" and "Mission: Impossible 2" in the United States), brings his unique wizardry to the war scenes.

"Windtalkers" may be wrapped around the code talker phenomenon, but at heart it's every bit as much of a World War II flick as "Saving Private Ryan" or "The Sands of Iwo Jima." Woo's method of capturing the mayhem and chaos of combat is different from Steven Spielberg's, yet both are masters of kinetic filmmaking. It's as if they were born with an extra visual/editing gene.

In showing us the battle of Saipan, Woo uses everything from sweeping panoramas to vertiginous crane shots to blood 'n' guts close-ups (including a startlingly original point-of-view shot).

These jacked-up battle scenes have an interesting side effect: They help us through the non-action scenes. Much of "Windtalkers" is like a '50s war picture, a reflection of Woo's admitted infatuation with the Hollywood movies of his youth. His characters are out of Pauline Kael's so-called bomber-crew cast list: the city guy, the country guy, the starry-eyed rookie, the cynical veteran, etc. What Woo does so magnificently is to wed the brusquely brilliant B-movie clichés of a Sam Fuller flick with the pyrotechnic expertise of Hollywood, circa 2002.

"Windtalkers" will rightly bring attention to Beach and Willie; both have a distinct, camera-friendly appeal. But the movie's real beneficiary is Cage, who's found a way to bring parts of his Oscar-winning "Leaving Las Vegas" persona to a completely different kind of role. He's the alienated cynic who's also very good at what soldiers are supposed to be good at: killing people.

Joe doesn't believe in anything anymore, yet he aches to believe in something - the idea of dying with honor, perhaps, or finding a role that rings true within the concept of wartime heroism. At times, Cage has the clear-eyed, ironic battle fatigue of William Holden, another actor often cast in roles that revealed the disappointed idealist behind the world-weary cynic.

"Windtalkers" will probably disappoint anyone looking for an in-depth look at the code talkers; and it could turn off those unwilling to work with its retro dialogue and characters. Still, it's difficult to resist Woo's explosive artistry and Cage's reluctant hero. For anyone in the mood for an unusual kind of war movie, "Windtalkers" is talking your language.

Rating:
Summary: Windtalkers forces us to confront the brutality of war
Review: John Woo brilliantly takes full advantage of modern day special effects to show war in all its hideousness. Windtalkers is not for the squeamish because there is plenty of blood and gone throughout the film. The story revolves around the Navaho Army soldiers, nicknamed windtalkers, trained to transmit messages in their
own indigenous tongue. Japanese code cracking experts were dumbfounded and unable to research any printed texts because the Navaho language relied solely upon an oral tradition. This left them frustrated and powerless to predict the subsequent moves of the allied troops. Sergeant Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage) is assigned the task to personally guard Private Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach), a highly gifted Navaho code specialist. This top secret code must be protected at all cost and the Japanese are more than willing to torture a captured windtalker to get there hands on it. Sgt. Enders is ordered to kill Ben if this possibility ever arises. Not
surprisingly, this discourages him from getting too friendly with Ben. Joe is also a blue collar individual of Italian descent and the much younger soldier plans on eventually attending college. Their odd couple relationship is awkward to say the least.

Racism pervaded the attitudes of many white GIs. The windtalkers were invaluable in keeping them alive, but old ingrained prejudices remained. Sadly, Woo is
unable to deftly handle the dramatic scenes dealing with the interactions of flawed and imperfect human beings. The strong supporting cast that includes Christian Slater, Peter Stormare, and Noah Emmerich, cannot completely make up for John Woo's glaring weaknesses in this regard. Still, Windtalkers earns a full five stars. Woo, a master in battlefield cinematic choreography, has sufficiently succeeded in providing a glimpse of hell on earth. Wars might sometimes be unavoidably necessary, but we have a moral duty not to be cavalier in our decision making. There are regretfully instances when American military personnel must be placed in harm's way. We should pray, however, that they are very rare.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Fifty Worst Films of All Time...
Review: If you really want to find out more about this film, go to the "See All Reviews" link at the end of the following reviews, select the link, and when the next page appears, Select "Lowest Reviews First" in the dialogue box. Then, hit the "Go" button. Needless to say, all of the reviews you'll see at that point say how awful this movie is much better than I can.

Incidentally, as of this writing, the VHS version of "Windtalkers" is going for $1.20.

Rating:
Summary: A True War Movie
Review: This movie is excellent. There's no glamorizing of war here - it shows how awful it really is. All the acting is great but I am especially impressed with Nicolas Cage. He does an excellent job of showing the pain and emotional trauma his character has gone through and is trying to cope with. War isn't pretty or easy and that is portrayed well in this movie.

Words really can't explain the way this movie made me feel, but I'll try. It was horrifying. If I had been at home alone, I probably would have cried the whole way through. As it was I was on the verge of tears quite often throughout the movie in the theater. It was a shock to me, I guess. I've seen "Saving Private Ryan" and "A Thin Red Line," both of which are excellent movies which I think portrayed the truth of war quite well. But "The Windtalkers" was different. Much more impacting. Where as in most war movies, when there isn't fighting, there's a lull in the awfulness. This movie had much less of that because when there's a lull in the action, the characters have a chance to think and dwell on the awfulness that they've been through. I imagine that's what it's really like in a war, but I've never seen that portrayed until this movie.

This movie represents to me what war is - awful, dirty, mind numbing, terrifying, horrible. And it is because of that realness that I love it. I think it is a memorial to the men who were there fighting for our country. I think it honors them in ways little else can. You see what they went though, you feel their pain and terror, you see them dying, you see them having to deal with watching their friends get shot and blown up... and you feel it all. The emotion you feel from this movie can't be put into words. And in feeling that it brings greater understanding of war and greater appreciation for those soldiers. This movie helps us to honor the men who fought and died for us and to remember why we should do everything we can to avoid sending our men and women into something like that again.

Rating:
Summary: Not another war movie...
Review: The year is 1944. America is out to take over Saipan that remains a Japanese stronghold. Cage is a decorated soldier that recovers from an ear injury and is promoted to Sergeant by accepting the role as the protector of a Navajo code-talking radio man. At first he wants to keep his distance knowing what he'll have to do when his codetalker is going to be captured. But Ben Yazi, his codetalker, proves to be a young, paternal, loyal and highly patriotic comrade. Little by little the new Navajo codes prove indecipherable to the Japanese and indispensable to the Americans. So, the Japanese army makes it their new mission to try to capture one of the codetalkers for interrogation. Therein lies the underlying conflict of the whole film.

Cage adopts the same acting style he used in Face Off (also directed by John Woo), a sort of manic-depressive character. Sometimes, he runs around hog wild shooting and killing the enemy. Sometimes, he just sits around feeling sorry for himself. Another reviewer commented on John Woo's signature ballet-of-bullets style, but I just found it gratuitous. I also found the landscape somewhat fake/staged. I'm really disappointed with all the other characters in the film. Cage is THE star and he's always in the limelight. Slater plays another sergeant with similar duties, but his purpose in the film is only to show that these codetalker-protectors also struggle with their orders. When it comes to taking the life of a fellow soldier, wouldn't you think twice?

I'm personally very tired of watching war movies. This film is so repetitive at times, that you can tune out entire sequences in the movie and still not miss anything. So I cannot highly recommend this film unless you're a diehard John Woo fan.

LEAP rating (each out of 5):
============================
L (Language) - 3.5 (nothing special, some humor injected during the quiet times)
E (Erotica) - 0 (n/a)
A (Action) - 4 (we see lots of people getting shot, burned and limbs blown apart)
P (Plot) - 2 (really simple plot, does cage do his duty or do what's humane?)

Rating:
Summary: Whats happened to John Woo??
Review: Everything is here for me to have a very enjoyable movie experience. Nic Cage, Christian Slater, John Woo, a war movie dealing with US Marines....so what happened.
Well the first thing is the technical errors. They just wont be tolerated anymore, not after Saving Pvt.Ryan,Black Hawk Down, and Band of Brothers. You have to get the uniforms right, and you certainly must get the battle scenes accurate. This film does niether. The battle scenes for the south pacific are very inaccurate as are these mish mashed uniforms. Realism went out the window.
Next we have the story of the Navajo code talkers which get very little play. Instead the main story revolves around the tormented Sgt.played (very well) by Nic Cage. It is an intresting character but Woo doesnt give even Cage the proper time and set-ups.
I cant help but wonder whats gone on with John Woo since coming to America. He has not matched the outstanding work he did in HongKong , let alone surpassed it. FaceOff is as close as he has come to his previous films. I wonder if the Hollywood system has had an adverse effect. Or has Mr. Woo just gotten tired?
I for one miss the "bullet ballets", the "over the top"melodrama, and the wonderfully metaphorical imagery. I will continue to hope that the great John Woo returns to his groundbreaking crime heroic/bloodshed movies of yesterday. Perhaps he should have a Tequila Pop and think about it.

Rating:
Summary: Never rises above war movie formula in spite of good acting
Review: Starring Nicolas Cage and Christian Slater, this is a WW2 film about two marines assigned to protect two Navajo marines who use their native language as a code. Adam Beach and Roger Willie, who are actually two Canadian Indians, play the roles of the Navajos. It seems like an interesting twist on a formula war film. And it certainly is. But the film never does rise above the formula in spite of excellent acting. John Woo, who's known for special effects, directs it. This makes for great battle scenes that are easy to follow. It spite of all the gunfire and hand grenade explosions, we always know where the central characters are. The real story, however, is about the hard choices that Nicholas Cage has to make. He's a fine actor and he does it well. But isn't this film supposed to be about the Navajos? Why then, did the film focus on the white actors? The plot seemed implausible also. Two Navajos were assigned to one small unit in the Solomon Islands. As the Japanese are dug in there, they wouldn't have needed to speak in code to call airpower to the big guns. It was obvious from the start that this was a Hollywood version of what could have been a really fine film. There were so many inauthentic touches throughout that I found myself somewhat amused. The film did move quickly, however, and it did hold my interest. But so what? If the story seems wrong, the finest acting can't save it. Therefore, in spite of Nicholas Cage being one of my favorite actors, I can't recommend this film.

Rating:
Summary: Windtalkers
Review: This DVD is not widescreen . And I need all my DVDs widescreen because I have a windscreen TV. Went to Hasting all of Windtalkers DVD are both widescreen and Fullscreen.
And I went back to my order from you and it show it was widescreen that was order.
What happen?

Rating:
Summary: Great idea, inept movie
Review: The premise of "Windtalkers" is actually quite good, and loosly based upon actual WW2 history. What's true is that the US Marines did use Navaho speakers to code messages in the Pacific theater of action. The second premise of the movie, namely that they were assigned individual guardians (in this movie, Nicholas Cage and Christian Slater) to kill them if they were being captured, I'm not so sure about. I guess, as John Woo has it, that's why if there was a battle, these guys were right in front begging to be captured.

The movie starts out with a nice idea, but is utterly destroyed by the movie's lack of realism and unimaginitive plot, which buries the two Native Americans in a stunningly shallow film in which they are seconds. As best I can tell, Hollywood has decided that war movies fall into one of two categories: Private-Ryan realism or "Pearl Harbor" shazaam-special effects. "Windtalkers" plants itself firmly in the latter category - a Pearl Harbor with Marines.

Granades go of like miniature A-bombs, with big all consuming fireballs (which, of course, Marines get to outrun). Aircraft are cheezy digital things that fly like Starcraft space fighters. Uniforms are all wrong. The Japanese stupidly charge into our waiting guns. When people got shot, I thought of "Kill Bill"- you'll know what I mean. But that was camp and this is supposed to be serious.

We don't even get to like Nicholas Cage, a fine actor who has nothing to do but act anguished all the time (compare his nuanced performance in "Matchstick Men") and charge Japanese bunkers with his Thompson, which never misses and never runs out of ammunition, repeatedly like some faux-John Wayne. The two Navaho characters are noble and handled like wooden dolls.

The outdoor scenes look implausibly like the north coast of Kauai or the hills near Ventura - not Saipan. When the Marines storm a Saipan village, the villagers, apparently oblivious to the war up to that point, are still trotting about doing their village things. What did the Japanese extras think when they were doing this film? Or when one of the Navaho characters puts on a Japanese helment and sneaks behind the lines because he "looks Japanese?" We had better ideas than this on out 5th grade playground.

Parents: The movie is rated "R" for violence, and some language (one half hour of the Dave Chappelle show will bury this one). The violence is so comic-book that anyone over 11 can deal with it. To my surprise, my teenagers declared the movie incompetent after twenty minutes and returned to their homework.

Rating:
Summary: Flawed but Important Look at a lesser fact in World War 2.
Review: A Captain of the Marines (Oscar-Winner:Nicolas Cage) during World War 2 is assigned to protect the Navajo Cipher (Adam Beach & Roger Willis), who they are the Codetalkers. They are Native Americans, whose job to protect the American Soldiers from the Japanese Enemies.

Directed by John Woo (Browne Arrow, Face/Off, Hard Target) who made a strong and unique War Picture about the Navajo Soldiers who were used the Protect Themselves, the Soldiers from the Enemies and to bring down their war strategies. Adam Beach is the stand-out of the film & Woo stages War Scenes and it becomes much more brutal as the film develops. We wish, We knew more about the Navajo Soldiers during that peroid, but the movie focuses more on Cage's Incompetency as a Leader. The film is Centainly Different from previous War Pictures. DVD has an terrific anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer (also in Pan & Scan), and an sharp Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Alternate DVD runs more than 20 Mintues in a Three Disc Set. All in All, I enjoyed this movie trememdously because of the Acting, Directing and the Story. Super 35. Grade:A-.