fludd.org - Movie Review

Since most of us have seen so many war movies, our expectations have become quite high. As for John Woo, a movie director with a very unique style for filming gunfight movies, we always believe that he will come up with a product that takes our breath away. The only thing that prevents Windtalkers of being good is certainly not the subject, but rather the script and the man behind the camera, because although he has a legendary skill to direct action movies, John Woo’s style is not fit for a war movie.

Let it be said that even if some of us are full of knowledge in History, it is quite probable that some of us have never heard about the Navajo’s contribution to the American’s victory over the Japanese during the Second World War. Despite having a script full of flaws and clichés, the presentation of that facet of the Second World War is quite well presented. Unfortunately, John Woo, the man behind a nice action movie like Face/Off and The Killer, the movie that has been acclaimed as his masterpiece by the critics from all around the world, doesn’t really have what it takes to make a war movie since he heavily relies on style and visual beauty, in his own way. The reason why Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line were acclaimed as artistic success, it’s because both movies were quite bloody and realistic. The lack of realism is the main flaw of Windtalkers, because a war movie doesn’t need style and visual beauty, and moreover, how can the American soldiers look like a whole team of Rambo and that the Japanese soldiers are presented as a low-rated version of an artificial intelligence? All that being said, the movie itself looks more like a video game that is way too easy, because all you are likely to see is a bunch of action scenes that lack realism.

For those who don’t like to think too much while watching a movie (I’m thinking about a friend of mine who couldn’t go to college), Windtalkers will definitely look like a very decent action movie. The gunfight scenes are very loud, appreciably explosive, heavily violent and a little bit bloody. By considering all the huge sum of money that has been put at John Woo’s disposal, which is quite a waste of money if we look at the final result, because the script doesn’t really seem to exist and one might have the disgusting feeling that it is only in the movie just to make sure that the protagonists move from another action scene to another, which is quite ridiculous, in the end. Nobody can complain about the movie’s fast pace, because when all the characters will be doing their mission in Japan, you will certainly want the movie to end, but despite the 134 minutes length, the action scenes do help to move very quickly. All that being said about the action scenes, Windtalkers doesn’t really break the convention with its clichés. Are you really tired to see a soldier who is begging for one of his comrade to “bring this back to [his] wife if [he] dies”? If you believe that a scene involving a soldier who’s watching a picture of his wife is so original, then it means that you haven’t seen enough war movies in your life.

Playing in an uneven cast, Nicolas Cage (Face/Off), as Joe Enders, doesn’t fail to portray his character and it really looks like his character is really willing to kill himself, because he has lost almost everything and living seems to be completely worthless for him. Adam Beach, as Private Ben Yahzee and Joe Enders’ charge, looks fine in this role and he strikes the right note when he has to show his character’s transformation as the movie advances. Obviously, it looks like the chemistry between Nicolas Cage and Adam Beach is not very well developed.

On other the side, meet Christian Slater (Broken Arrow), as Sergeant Pete Anderson, and Roger Willie, as Private Charlie Whitehorse and Anderson’s charge. Slater and Willie both have a nice and easy relation, which makes them more interesting than the team formed by Nicolas Cage and Adam Beach. The movie could be more concentrated on them, but since Nicolas Cage takes most of the place in the movie, we really lose our interest for the story quickly. The love between Nicolas Cage’s Joe Enders and Frances O’Connor’s Joe Enders’ love interest has little to do with the story and O’Connor’s role is just an easy role that has been thrown in there just to fill a void. The rest of the cast is not worth a mention, and every characters, from the racist to the New Yorker who dreams of owning a cab, are just stereotype that you have seen so many times.

In America, since the standards have been set by Saving Private Ryan and other great war movies, Windtalkers is completely below the average. Despite its great quantity of amazing and entertaining action scenes, the movie has a too mindless script and it just has no specific objective, besides giving to an audience that is seeking action scenes, at all cost. If it was done by another director, Windtalkers would certainly be better, but John Woo is quite good, but he doesn’t use the appropriate style to make the movie. Now, I’ll be looking forward to watch the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers, which is apparently inspiring, according to what I’ve heard.

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