Windtalkers (2002)

Simply Perfect

Let's be realistic.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Two U.S. Marines in World War II are assigned to protect Navajo Marines, who use their native language as an unbreakable radio cypher. Windtalkers is easily John Woo's worst american film. I mean except Nicolas Cage who at least tries a little bit and the rest of the cast Adam Beach was such a horrible character. He was either afraid or crying for half of the movie and even the well made footage of battles couldn't save the movie. If you're also looking for historical accurate events or whatever well? you're definitely not getting your money's worth with this one guys like trust me you really won't it's that bad. (4/10)

OK, I'll try to be fair here - this movie had a decent plot (or at least original idea) and could've been a very solid movie... It clearly had a good budget to match, 2 boxes ticked very early on. Unfortunately the rest kind of went to pot. Apart from the performances of Adam Beach and Mark Ruffalo, the acting was awful - from Nicholas Cage to the extras, from the delivery of lines to the deaths. The acting was very robotic and the cast might as well have had the script on screen with them.This leads me on to the inevitable shooting, killing, explosions, gun fire and blood... Now we've all seen Saving Private Ryan (if you haven't that is the War movie you must watch), so we've seen how special effects can, and are meant, to be done. Windtalkers gets that completely wrong. The blood looks more paint like than in Get Carter (a movie 30 years older), the unfortunate loss of limbs look plastic and the aimless shooting/ spraying of bullets (but still hitting targets) becomes evident right from the off. To top it off, Windtalkers uses the same explosion throughout the movie - whether it's for mortar fire, artillery guns, grenades or even landlines... Same explosion! It feels like they try to put in a lot of, relatively unnecessary, action to take the focus away from the diabolical acting... Unfortunately the actions scenes aren't much better.Pro's: Good and original idea/ storyline Adam Beach Mark Ruffalo A lot of action and variety of weaponsCons: Didn't fulfil potential Poor acting from all other actors Bad special effects Didn't give a realistic insight on World War 2 or keep you glued to the screen throughout.My thoughts: A disappointment overall unfortunately, I would've really liked to see the movie succeed.Suggestions to watch (WW2 American movies/ shows): Saving Private RyanFury Band of Brothers Flags of Our Fathers (American view)/ Letters of Iwo Jima (Japanse view)

Windtalkers is a war movie and one that some people may not have heard of. It's a mediocre war movie to say at best, but it does have its moments. There is a question of authenticity related to the movie. The story itself may be factual, but the movie's interpretation of the story is questionable. However, there are some redeemable qualities such as the fine acting, a good amount of action, and a solid score by composer James Horner.John Woo's film is about two U.S Marines named Ben Yahzee and Peter Anderson who are assigned to protect several Navajo codebreakers from falling into the Japanese hands.I did like the acting of the film. Nic Cage does a great job in the center role and he shows great chemistry with Adam Beach, the actor who played his Navajo Marine. Christian Slater does a good job as Anderson, and I also liked the performances of Mark Ruffalo and Noah Emmerich.Overall, Windtalkers is a war movie that is driven on a clichéd story. Some people may like the film, while others may despise it. I am stuck in the middle. I liked many aspects of the film, but other aspects were just doomed to failure such as the story and authenticity. But I will give the movie points in part due to Nic Cage's powerful performance. A loud, bloody, war movie is a good way to describe the movie.My Grade: C-

"Windtalkers" (2002) stars Nicolas Cage as a follow-the-orders-at-all-costs soldier who's assigned to protect a code talker (Adam Beach), a Navajo who speaks his native language on radio transmissions to conceal the data from the Japanese. Christian Slater plays a similar soldier assigned to another Navajo (Roger Willie). The movie details the Battle of Saipan and also stars Noah Emmerich, Mark Ruffalo, Brian Van Holt, Peter Stormare and Frances O'Connor.I was surprised by how good "Windtalkers" is. I say 'surprised' because it lacks the mass hoopla surrounding other WWII films, like 1998's overrated "Saving Private Ryan" (don't get me wrong, the first act of "Ryan" is great, but the rest of the movie leaves a lot to be desired. Remember the lame dog tag sequence?). The film was made by John Woo who knows how to make an exciting and colorful action flick, as witnessed by 1996' "Broken Arrow." "Windtalkers" cost a whopping $115 million to make and you definitely see it on the screen; unfortunately, it 'only' made back $75 million worldwide.Both 1998's "The Thin Red Line" and "Windtalkers" involve the Pacific Theater of WWII and the taking of Japanese-held islands. While I consider "The Thin Red Line" a nigh-masterpiece, it's too meditative and spiritual if you're in the mood for a straight war flick. When that's the case, "Windtalkers" satisfies just fine. Remember the incredible air raid sequence in 1979's "Apocalypse Now"? That's the impression I got with the opening scenes of the Battle of Saipan in "Windtalkers." Some complain that not enough emphasis is put on the code talkers, but the two Navajos are major characters throughout the story, particularly the one played by Beach. As for their actual code-talking, what else needs to be shown? The complaint holds no water.Others complain about the utter annihilation of throngs of Japanese soldiers, but the statistics support this: There were 71,000 allied forces and 31,000 Japanese soldiers in the battle. 'Only' 3,426 allied forces died, while another 10,000 were wounded, but 24,000 Japs were killed and another 5000 committed suicide, while 921 were taken captive. On top of this 22,000 civilians died, mostly by suicide, in obedience to the imperial order of Emperor Hirohito encouraging the civilians of Saipan to commit suicide promising them an equal status in the afterlife with that of soldiers dying in battle.Ultimately, "Windtalkers" lacks that special flair or perspective that denotes truly exception war movies, like "Apocalypse Now," "Platoon," "Where Eagles Dare" and "The Blue Max," but "Windtalkers" isn't far behind. The main difference is that it's more of a conventional war flick but, of course, that's all it needs to be.The film runs 134 minutes and was shot in Hawaii and the greater Los Angeles area.GRADE: B+