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Windtalkers - A Review 06/23/2002
This World War II tale is directed by John Woo and stars Nicholas Cage, Christian Slater, Adam Beach and Frances O'Connor. Sgt. Joe Enders (Cage) is a bitter, emotionally and physically wounded soldier with the 2nd Recon batallion of the Marines fighting in the Pacific. After a brutal end to his action in the Solomons, and his subsequent recovery in Hawaii, he is assigned to guard a Navajo "codetalker" in the invasion of Saipan. The codetalkers are used to communicate between units in their native language which to the Japanese, sounds like gibberish. As the Navajo language is verbal only with no written analog, breaking the code would require capturing one of the Navajo and torturing the code out of them. Ender's mission is to protect the code by executing "his" codetalker (Adam Beach as Pvt. Ben Yahzee) if the Japanese were about to get him. The catch is that no-one other than another codetalker's guard (Christian Slater as Sgt. Peter Henderson) can know about what they have to do - it's top secret.
The action is hot and heavy through most of the film, and it's John Woo at his finest. Intense and loud, but not over-the-top. There's a lot of close combat action with blood and bullets flying, along with a couple of scenes of intense gore. It looks like he has tamed the "Hong Kong touch" in his earlier US-films which include Mission Impossible II, Face Off and Broken Arrow, but this isn't a movie for young kids or significant others of delicate sensibilities. There are quiet and introspective moments interspersed throughout the film allowing you to dig down into the main characters and see them as people with depth and character and not just as line spouting vehicles.
The visuals are first rate in this film. The bombing/strafing runs by U.S. Hellcat planes are CGI, but you really have to look hard to see it. The color palettes are well balanced with none of the graying-out or monochromatic colors so in vogue in Hollywood right now. Weapons are generally authentic from Thompson machine guns to BARs to Sherman tanks. The Japanese weapons also are period pieces with the possible exception of a couple of heavy cannon.
The audio is simply badass! The gunshots, explosions and all the sounds of combat have an extra edge, an extra punch to them that feels right. The surround channels are used a lot and to excellent effect. Dialog is clear even in the most congested, noisy scenes. This is how a war movie should sound!
The story itself treats the Navajo people/characters with respect and gives them a well deserved dignity and depth of character. The story is involving and loosely based on fact. You feel Sgt. Enders' pain as his mission to protect the code becomes more and more unbearable the more he gets to know his codetalker. You feel the strength and dignity of the codetalkers as they go to war for a country that sometimes treats them little better than an afterthought. You feel the fear and mounting sense of loss as the invasion moves inland. In fact, you wind up feeling a host of different things as this movie progresses. It's an impressive, exhausting and enveloping two-plus hours.
I give Windtalkers a strong :4: out of :5:
David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker
This World War II tale is directed by John Woo and stars Nicholas Cage, Christian Slater, Adam Beach and Frances O'Connor. Sgt. Joe Enders (Cage) is a bitter, emotionally and physically wounded soldier with the 2nd Recon batallion of the Marines fighting in the Pacific. After a brutal end to his action in the Solomons, and his subsequent recovery in Hawaii, he is assigned to guard a Navajo "codetalker" in the invasion of Saipan. The codetalkers are used to communicate between units in their native language which to the Japanese, sounds like gibberish. As the Navajo language is verbal only with no written analog, breaking the code would require capturing one of the Navajo and torturing the code out of them. Ender's mission is to protect the code by executing "his" codetalker (Adam Beach as Pvt. Ben Yahzee) if the Japanese were about to get him. The catch is that no-one other than another codetalker's guard (Christian Slater as Sgt. Peter Henderson) can know about what they have to do - it's top secret.
The action is hot and heavy through most of the film, and it's John Woo at his finest. Intense and loud, but not over-the-top. There's a lot of close combat action with blood and bullets flying, along with a couple of scenes of intense gore. It looks like he has tamed the "Hong Kong touch" in his earlier US-films which include Mission Impossible II, Face Off and Broken Arrow, but this isn't a movie for young kids or significant others of delicate sensibilities. There are quiet and introspective moments interspersed throughout the film allowing you to dig down into the main characters and see them as people with depth and character and not just as line spouting vehicles.
The visuals are first rate in this film. The bombing/strafing runs by U.S. Hellcat planes are CGI, but you really have to look hard to see it. The color palettes are well balanced with none of the graying-out or monochromatic colors so in vogue in Hollywood right now. Weapons are generally authentic from Thompson machine guns to BARs to Sherman tanks. The Japanese weapons also are period pieces with the possible exception of a couple of heavy cannon.
The audio is simply badass! The gunshots, explosions and all the sounds of combat have an extra edge, an extra punch to them that feels right. The surround channels are used a lot and to excellent effect. Dialog is clear even in the most congested, noisy scenes. This is how a war movie should sound!
The story itself treats the Navajo people/characters with respect and gives them a well deserved dignity and depth of character. The story is involving and loosely based on fact. You feel Sgt. Enders' pain as his mission to protect the code becomes more and more unbearable the more he gets to know his codetalker. You feel the strength and dignity of the codetalkers as they go to war for a country that sometimes treats them little better than an afterthought. You feel the fear and mounting sense of loss as the invasion moves inland. In fact, you wind up feeling a host of different things as this movie progresses. It's an impressive, exhausting and enveloping two-plus hours.
I give Windtalkers a strong :4: out of :5:
David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker
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